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County gets federal funding for temporary flood workers

JANESVILLE — Federal grant money will pay for at least 15 temporary workers to pitch in with flood cleanup in Rock County and the city of Janesville.

That number might grow depending on the needs of neighboring counties, said Bob Borremans, executive director of the Southwest Wisconsin Workforce Development Board.

Interviews to hire workers are ongoing this week, and interested residents should report to the Rock County Job Center.

The board applied for a National Emergency Grant because Rock County was declared a disaster area eligible for public assistance.

The southwest board covers Rock, Iowa, Green, Lafayette, Grant and Richland counties.

The board is a nonprofit organization that administers money from the Department of Labor.

Rock County received about $196,000 for temporary workers.

Janesville will get 12 of the workers.

According to a memo by Rebecca Smith, management assistant at the city, the workers will be supervised by city staff and would be available for five months or 1,040 hours, whichever is longer.

The maximum wage generally is limited to $12,000 per worker, and the workers are typically unemployed local people, she said. The workers will help the city with manual labor cleanup.

Rock County could receive another eight to 10 workers because its needs are greater than those in surrounding counties, Borremans said.

The workers will be employed by the Workforce Development Board, which also will handle benefits, workers compensation and liability insurance.

People interested in a job should report to the job center at 1900 Center Ave. and ask for Greg Bosak to find if they are eligible.

Residents getting priority are those workers who lost their jobs because of the flood. Dislocated workers in general and other longtime unemployed people also are eligible.

For more information, call the job center at (608) 741-3400.