877—7.4 (84A,PL105-220) Service delivery region designations. The governor is responsible for the designation of workforce investment regions with the assistance of the state workforce development board, after consultation with the chief elected officials and after consideration of comments received through a public comment process.
	 7.4(1) In making the designation of regions, the governor shall take into consideration the following:
	  a.   	 Geographic areas served by local educational agencies and intermediate educational agencies;
	  b.   	 Geographic areas served by postsecondary educational institutions and vocational education schools;
	  c.   	 The extent to which the regions are consistent with labor market areas;
	  d.   	 The distance that individuals will need to travel to receive services provided in the regions; and
	  e.   	 The resources of the areas that are available to effectively administer the activities carried out through the workforce development centers.
	 7.4(2) In order to initiate the designation process, the governor shall publicly announce the proposed region designations after receiving a recommendation from the state workforce development board. This will begin a public comment period of two weeks, during which local elected officials and other interested parties may comment on the proposed designations. Due to state legislative limitations, the maximum number of regions that may be designated is 16.
	 7.4(3) Any request from any unit of local government with a population of 500,000 or more shall be approved by the governor. In addition, the governor shall approve any requests from any unit of general local government, or consortium of contiguous units of general local government, that was a service delivery area under the federal Job Training Partnership Act, provided that it is determined that the area performed successfully in each of the last two program years and has sustained the fiscal integrity of funds. For the purposes of this subrule, “performed successfully” means that the service delivery area met or exceeded the performance for the following performance standards as appropriate:
	  a.   	 Title IIA: adult follow-up employment rate; adult welfare follow-up employment rate; adult follow-up weekly earnings; and adult welfare follow-up weekly earnings.
	  b.   	 Title III: entered employment rate; and average wage at placement.
Also for the purposes of this subrule, “sustained fiscal integrity” means that the Secretary of the Department of Labor has not made a final determination during any of the last three years that either the grant recipient or administrative entity misspent funds due to willful disregard of the requirements of the Job Training Partnership Act, gross negligence, or failure to observe accepted standards of administration.
	 7.4(4) The final designation of the regions shall be made by the governor once all comments have been received and reviewed.
	 7.4(5) Any unit of general local government, or consortium of contiguous units of general government, that requests, but is not designated, a region under 7.4(3) may submit an appeal in accordance with the provisions of 7.24(12).