share by of the waukesha - frustrated board members of the state's flagship jobs agency groped for solutions wednesday to repeated criticism of their poor financial controls, while key lawmakers in the statehouse called for restricting $14 million in new money until the agency comes up with answers. in the morning, the board of the wisconsin economic development corp. met at a hastily called meeting in a state office building in waukesha about a week after the legislative audit bureau released a stinging report on the jobs agency, which was created in july 2011 by gov. scott walker and lawmakers as a replacement for the department of commerce. after more than three hours of discussion, the board resolved to form three new committees to oversee policies, credit decisions and contracts. the existing compensation and benefits committee will review candidates for executive-level jobs, including the open chief financial officer position. wedc has had abrupt and embarrassing turnover in both its cfo and spokesman positions in recent weeks. walker, the board's chairman, directed reed hall, wedc's top executive, to ask the legislative audit bureau to meet with and provide guidance to the agency's board and key staff members. "this board is going to play a much more active role," walker said. the legislature's joint finance committee is slated to decide wedc funding as part of the state budget on thursday. rep. john nygren (r-marinette), a co-chairman of joint finance, said assembly republicans want to restrict the $14 million in new state money from going to wedc over the next two years until the agency can show it has a plan to overcome problems disclosed in the recent audit and other reviews. with that additional money, the wedc would receive a total of $128 million over two years. the assembly proposal still needs to be negotiated with senate republicans. but nygren, co-chairman of the finance committee, said wedc should continue getting its current funding levels, saying the agency is a "proven job creator" that has faced challenges because it just started up. however, nygren wants to set any new money aside until the budget panel approves the agency's turnaround plan. "it's on them," nygren said of wedc. recent federal statistics have shown wisconsin lagging behind most other states in the nation on job creation. spokesman tom evenson said that walker backed the assembly republican position. sen. jennifer shilling (d-la crosse), a budget committee member, said the nygren proposal was better than doing nothing but still wasn't enough to reform the wedc. "it is weak tea," shilling said of nygren's plan. sen. alberta darling (r-river hills) co-chairwoman said that she also backed withholding new money for the wedc. "they're going to have to prove to us that they've seriously reformed and addressed the issues that were raised," darling said. at the wedc board meeting, agency officials said newly hired vice president of risk and credit jake kuester is revamping procedures for contracts involving tax credits, loans, grants and other programs. the agency is also overhauling its reporting and information technology systems. facing a line of tv cameras and reporters, wedc had seven staff people and five vice presidents answering questions. the agency also provided a 22-page table with its responses to more than 100 of the audit findings. several board members said that they haven't been getting enough timely information from agency staff to fulfill their duties to taxpayers and the public. hall said in an interview following the meeting he is confident the agency has been fully complying with state laws during the last few months. "there are already bills circulating in the legislature to require an audit every year of wedc," said sen. julie lassa (d-stevens point), a wedc board member. the legislative audit bureau audit is the fourth report to evaluate wedc since its problems began to surface a year ago. walker said after the meeting there are a number of things he would have done differently on the administrative side when the agency formed, but that taking more time to get it going would not have helped with job creation. as frustrating as the problems and the scrutiny have been, wisconsin companies say they are pleased when working with wedc staff, walker said. the situation also provides an opportunity to develop more transparency with "clear expectations, clear policies and clear follow-up," he added. patrick marley of the journal sentinel staff contributed to this report from madison.
private firms given £9.2bn of nhs budget despite hancock promise