After months of disagreements among staff and board members, the Kentucky Capital Development Corp. has successfully submitted a grant application to the Department of Labor.
If approved, the $440,000 grant will fund a cybersecurity workforce training program for 25 applicants from Frankfort and Franklin County's underserved communities.
Once accepted the applicants will take a 12-week remote cybersecurity course taught by Kentucky State University. Upon successful completion, the students will be accepted into Interapt's paid, year-long apprenticeship program where they will work remotely within the healthcare industry. Additionally, the students will have earned 12 credit hours from the university with the option of being able to continue taking classes.
In February it was unclear whether or not KCDC was going to turn the grant application in by the Feb. 28 deadline due to disagreements between KCDC President and CEO Terri Bradshaw and the board members who have been putting together the application over how the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between KCDC, KSU and Interapt was worded.
During a special meeting on Thursday evening, the KCDC board, minus Board chair Clay Patrick and Vice Chair Danny Willis, met to get an update on the application and what to expect going forward.
Kimberly Gester, the board member who has been quarterbacking the process told her colleagues that the application had been submitted with the help of Bradshaw and Andrew Seth, a Washington, D.C.-based grant writing consultant.
"What we are hoping to do this evening is go through the remaining seven documents and answer questions about those and make a motion to submit the regular supporting materials," Gester said.
She also mentioned that she wanted to go over the MOU, even though it was not required as part of the application.
Over the last several months the KCDC board has had a hard time coming to a consensus on the MOU, particularly over how KCDC will pay Interapt.
"Interapt would typically like all of the funds up front," Gester explained. "They are willing to work with us if we provide half of the funds up front and the remaining half of the funds at week 10 of the 12 week training program."
Gester said that Interapt needs the funding so that they could in turn pay the subcontractor, General Assembly, which is teaching the course.
Bradshaw expressed concern over paying them before the end of the program.
"Will they keep them employed?" Bradshaw asked during the meeting. "Once we pay them all the money, we have nothing in this document and we have no means to hold them accountable to do anything after that."
Board member Richard Rosen conceded that there is a risk in paying Interapt before the end of the program, but then pointed out the risk of not securing the federal funding.
"However, if we can't reach an agreement about the funding schedule, the bigger risk is that the whole grant will fall through and we will not be able to implement the grant," Rosen stated. "I think that is a bigger risk. There is a third risk that if we fumble this grant, we will lose the ability or really hinder our ability to get any grant money in the future. I think the concerns are real, but I think they are overshadowed by the risk of not finding a way to work out the funding schedule to the satisfaction of Interapt."
After some discussion, the board and Bradshaw agreed to pay half of the federal funding once it was received and the other half at the conclusion of week 10 of the training program.
In addition to adjusting the payment schedule, KCDC's legal counsel, Frankfort Attorney Bob Kellerman recommended that the clause, "All remedies of law and in equity shall be available to the parties in the event of breach," be added to the MOU.
"That means the MOU does not spell out the who can sue who for what and why and all that," Kellerman explained. "It just says that the remedies of law you have are preserved. So that is a very simple way of saying that if Interapt does not perform then KCDC would have the right to go to court and seek certain performance and/or seek damages."
The board ended the meeting in agreement on the path forward for both the grant application and the MOU.
Frankfort Mayor Layne Wilkerson is excited to get the program started.
"This innovative program is another building block in the process of creating a healthy economy in Frankfort," Wilkerson told The State Journal in an email. "Through this partnership, our residents have the opportunity to earn a 21st century career certification and gain valuable experience in the high growth field of cybersecurity. Better yet, these are good paying jobs working remotely from Frankfort, requiring no new buildings or land. This is another investment in our community's future, and we are just getting started."
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(5) comments
How are there disagreements between the KCDC board and staff with the staff failing to implement the directives of the board? The staff are employees who work for the board so once directed by the vote of the majority of the board to take a course of action, I don't understand how an employee can balk at doing what they've been directed to do.
Regardless of the inner troubles between KCDC board and their employee(s), I think this sounds like a wonderful project and am hoping the grant is approved so that KSU students and our community benefit from the training and future employment. Kudos to KCDC board for pursuing this grant and opportunity.
This is a classic example of the State Journal trying to put a smiley face on the insubordinate, Terri Bradshaw. From the editorial board’s perspective, Bradshaw is sugar and spice and everything nice. Apparently, they’ve never watched one of KCDC meetings since the new board members came on. I wouldn’t be surprised if we had a couple of board members resign in the near future. It’s getting hot in that kitchen!
When you read between the lines in this piece it appears that Andrew Seth the grant writer all the way from Washington DC ,is the one with the brains between the two that filled out the grant . Maybe he could make a better “ president “ for KCDC?
Board chair Clay Patrick and Vice Chair Danny Willis are two of the old guard sycophants of Bradshaw, that allowed her to lose 1700+ jobs in her first six years, gallivant around, getting paid for consuming alcohol on work time, well, giving her a 5% raise each year! The word on the street is that they’re going to resign soon. Can’t be soon enough!
“ In February it was unclear whether or not KCDC was going to turn the grant application in by the Feb. 28 deadline…”
Er ah, they did not get it in before the 28th, putting the whole thing in jeopardy of being denied. It is two weeks late. Why is that?
What the heck is going in here? Bradshaw didn’t even write the grant, as all that she had to do was coordinate it with KSU, which will be hosting the training that is conducted by a contractor.
We may never learn why they did this, but if it is the best that Bradshaw/KCDC can do, are they really worth ~$230,000 tax dollars a year?
Really the “why” is moot, as it’s a fool’s errand to try to ascribe rational motives for Bradshaw’s actions, or inaction. What was her rational motive when she filed her 13 page letter with the City Solicitor Laura Ross, that alleges ‘more than 50 instances’ of discrimination“?
The one that Ross quoted from Bradshaw’s letter, “which…mentions harassment, stalking, slander and “a hostile work environment by the city and county elected individuals as well as local citizens who were being encouraged by those same elected individuals.”
What would have happened if Director Kimberly Gester had NOT stepped out as a private citizen and come before the Fiscal Court (and City Commission) with a very disturbing story about Terri Bradshaw and some of her directors sitting on their hands, jeopardizing this nearly half million dollar grant?
Bradshaw claimed that she didn’t have time to do it. After all, she has been busy with assisting in the defense of bad actor Ron Tierney, who broke the laws on construction without a permit and conducting an illegal burn on his Duncan Road property, which exposed neighboring residents to toxic chemicals like dioxins, one of whom was admitted to the hospital.
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