Jill Schramm/MDN Amy Jenkins, left, who works in childcare licensing, speaks at a meeting of the Minot Committee on Childcare, as childcare provider Becca Oswill listens at right.

Minot’s childcare shortage is closely tied to the community’s workforce shortage, according to the discussion of a city committee Thursday.

The Minot Committee on Childcare took a look at general concerns that need to be overcome in drafting solutions to a capacity problem in Minot and at Minot Air Force Base. Difficulty in finding childcare staff – an issue raised at a previous committee meeting – was highlighted again as a key factor holding back expansion of services.

“I could potentially expand. But I can’t take more kids until I get more staff,” said committee member Becca Oswill, a childcare center owner. She said she set up 11 job interviews one day and only one candidate showed up. She could hire five workers immediately, if she could find them, she said.

Wages for childcare workers have been low, making it difficult to compete with the large number of other employment opportunities available in the community. Oswill said giving employees free childcare for their own children has been a key incentive of her center because the childcare cost savings can help counter the low pay.

Amy Jenkins, who works locally with childcare licensing for the state, mentioned a childcare center looking to open in Minot with the help of a grant, but finding an affordable building before the grant offer ends June 1 is the catch.

“We can throw up brick and mortar all day long,” Mayor Tom Ross said. “A much larger issue is finding the workers, and in the end, what’s it going to take to find those workers to help staff these daycare centers? What’s a wage that we need?”

City Manager Harold Stewart, a committee member, agreed.

“The brick and mortar is probably the easiest challenge here to solve of all of them. But without handling the wage issues, we are not going to find the workforce,” he said.

Another workforce issue is the length of time it takes the state to complete necessary background checks for prospective childcare employees, which is an issue the North Dakota Legislature is examining.

Committee member Keli Rosselli-Sullivan, workforce development specialist at Minot Area Chamber EDC, said the lack of a streamlined background check process results in a three- to four-week wait, unlike the three days in Minnesota or five days in South Dakota.

Oswill said by the end of the two or three weeks, a potential employee has moved on to another job opportunity. Checking out-of-state records can extend the wait to two months, and although the candidate can start work during that period, the person must be supervised, she added.

The committee also discussed recruitment and retention using potential childcare internships through high school career programs and business training that can make starting a daycare and complying with licensing easier for providers.

The committee is scheduled to meet again May 2 at 1:30 p.m. in the new Minot City Hall.