BELLEVILLE, Ill. (AP) — Participants in a federally funded job training program run by St. Clair County are still experiencing glitches getting applications approved for classes more than a month after the county fired 22 program case managers.

Jessica Casey of Cahokia said she'd been accepted more than two months ago for a licensed practical nursing program set to begin Jan. 5 at the Beck Career Center in Red Bud.

But Casey, 23, got a rude surprise earlier this month when she tried to find out about the status of her application when she called the WorkNet office in East St. Louis.

After 10 days of phoning in vain and getting no answer, she finally got through to a newly hired case manager — who told her all her records had vanished, Casey said.

'They lost me,' Casey said. 'They had no recollection of me whatsoever.'

Dennis Scurlock, 53, who was laid off as his job at a coal mine nearly two years ago, said on Nov. 24 he had received a letter informing him he had been accepted into a truck driving training program, which begins Jan. 4.

But on Dec. 14, after two weeks of trying to get a hold of someone at the WorkNet office in Carlyle, Scurlock finally spoke to counselor who told him 'there is no way I'm going into the Jan. 4 class,' Scurlock said.

Debra Moore, the executive director of St. Clair County's Intergovernmental Grants Department — whose office administers the five-county Workforce Investment Act program — declined to comment for this story.

But earlier this month, Moore told the News-Democrat that there had been no disruption of services, despite the mass layoffs and the task of retraining replacement workers.

'Now, when a person walks into the office at a time when we're not there, well, no, we're not there,' she said. 'But they have the ability to call and leave a message. And we are retrieving those messages and servicing those clients.'

The mass firings, as well as the overhaul of the workforce program, was touched off by a state-sponsored review of St. Clair's administration of the jobs program. The review found it had failed to hit mandated benchmarks in 2006 and 2007.

As part of its corrective action plan, St. Clair County made a college degree mandatory for case managers. Those without four-year degrees were let go, though they were allowed to reapply for their jobs.

But questions persisted about the motives for the lay-offs and their impact on program participants. As a result, Moore and Mark Kern, the St. Clair County Board chairman, held meetings on Wednesday with state lawmakers and the chairmen of county boards of Monroe, Randolph, Washington and Clinton counties to brief them on the program's status.

Kern declined to discuss what happened at the pair of meetings, other than to report that 'I think the meetings went well.'

State Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, R-Okawville, who attended the lawmaker meeting Wednesday, said he raised questions about the rationale for the firings of the 22 case managers. But Kern and Moore held their ground, Luechtefeld said.

'I think they decided this is the way they're going to go,' Luechtefeld said. 'And I think they feel they have the backing of state officials in Springfield and they're going to go with it.'

Luechtefeld said it would've made more sense for St. Clair County to fire only those case managers who were failing to meet program standards, while retaining those who did.

'You try to find out who's doing their job and who isn't doing their job, and then replace those who aren't doing their job,' the senator said. 'That obviously is not the way they chose.'

Kern and Moore agreed the workforce program's woes stemmed from 'a management problem,' Luechtefeld said. 'But they also agreed there needed to be new people there.'

Also attending Wednesday's meeting with Kern and Moore were state Sen. John Jones, R-Chicago; and state representatives Tom Holbrook, D-Belleville; Dan Reitz, D-Steeleville; and John Cavalatto, R-Salem.

Ray Kloeckner, the Clinton County board chairman, said he walked away from his meeting with Kern and Moore convinced the St. Clair County officials were 'going to go ahead the way they planned. They're going to try to make it work.'

Kloeckner has expressed concerns about the fairness surrounding the firing of Theresa Rackers, who ran the Clinton County WorkNet office, as well as the fact no one has so far been hired to replace her.

Still, Kloeckner said he and the board chairmen for Monroe, Washington and Randolph counties have stated they are determined to make the workforce program work for their constituents.

Kloeckner has complained about Rackers' firing and that 'I didn't like the way it went on,' he said. 'But there's nothing I can do about it. That's the way they want it to go on. And I'm going to do whatever I can to make the program work in Clinton County.'