In an economy growing more dependent on skilled workers, regional leaders hope a skills assessment called Prove It! will provide job seekers a chance at better employment.

On Thursday the Northwest Georgia Regional Commission approved a Department of Workforce Development plan to provide area colleges and technical schools with an online subscription to the assessment at a cost of roughly $20,000.

Prove It!, a program created by a company called Kenexa, which specializes in workforce recruitment, tests students on a variety of subjects like accounting and healthcare and markets the results to prospective employers.

In other business:

•Council members Confirmed the retirement of former executive director William R. “Bill” Steiner. Council members did not indicate when Steiner’s replacement would be chosen. Steiner is stepping down as of Jan. 4, 2013.

•Commission comptroller Joanne Thurston said the commission’s financial software has been malfunctioning, alluding to suspicions that it may have been tampered with. Because of this, the commission has been spending upwards of $5,000 per month for an outside agency to write a replacement program. Commission members agreed to allocate up to $30,000 for the purchase of a replacement software package.

• Department of Regional Planning Director David Howerin was given approval to spend $9,000 for the completion of a marketing video for the Appalachian Valley Fiber Network (AVFN). AVFN plans to provide high-speed Internet through fiber optic cables to businesses, health care providers, schools and, eventually, homes in Northwest Georgia. Using public-private partnerships and federal stimulus dollars, the group is planning to install 250 miles of cable. The project is scheduled for completion in July of next year.

•The Department of Community and Economic Development received the go-ahead on a proposal to the state for an economic development strategy that seeks to bolster private sector jobs, among other things.