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Q & A with Department of Management Services Secretary Jonthan Satter

Florida — Action News Jax’s Paige Kelton spoke with the Department of Management Services Secretary Jonthan Satter.

Here is their Q & A:

Kelton: The collapse of Florida’s unemployment website left many local families teetering on the edge of financial disaster. What do you say to them about the efforts being made to fix the system.

Satter: Not only are local family’s impacted but across the state, I have friends that are being affected by this. It’s a terrible situation and we can’t focus on the negative and I know that’s difficult for folks. At least, from our perspective, we are working hard -- 24/7 to get payments out as quickly as possible. Gov. DeSantis has given me all the resources I need to get it done as quickly as we can, and we are making progress slowly but surely.

Kelton: The biggest issue I hear about is having to claim weeks. The requirement was waived but it’s still in the system. People are still getting text alerts about it. What should they do?

Satter: They don’t need to do anything right now. Sometimes we oversimplify IT issues. We have our team working on that. That’s the number one priority. I’ve given that, right now, benefit recipients don’t need to worry about certifying their weeks right now.

Kelton: The website cost $77 million and went online in 2013, used old browsers and wasn’t mobile-ready, when you took over, were you surprised by what you found?

Satter: So, I’ve been in place for about a week. I was disappointed but again I need to push forward. I’m not thinking about what happened in the past. I am writing down a list of lessons learned but my primary goal and where I’m devoting all my energy is to getting Floridians paid as quickly as possible.

Kelton: Taxpayers are spending upwards of $109 million to increase call center staffing, yet I’ve spoken to dozens of people in the last 24 hours and only one was able to reach an agent. Is that acceptable?

Satter: First that math is not accurate, that’s if you annualize the cost of what we’re spending every day. We think we will make a dent in this very quickly. Those expenses are variable, they’re not fixed. We don’t need to obligate ourselves for 12 months’ worth of expenses. We’re going to get through this, we’re going to get through this quickly. I would expect those additional call center expenses to be a fraction of what you quoted.

Satter: With regard to call volumes, yesterday our call volume was in the 400 thousand calls. I don’t care who you are, it is impossible to answer 400 thousand calls. We’ve staffed up from 100 call center operators to almost 3 thousand, right now, in the last couple of weeks. We’re going to continue to staff up, every one of those 3 thousand people live in Florida. We wanted to keep Floridians working. Of the 400 thousand, there’s about 60 to 70 thousand unique callers. That means people get tired of waiting on hold, so they hang up and call back. We’re measuring hold times, measuring how quickly operators can assist and were making adjustments every day to improve and we are improving. We’ve got all those metrics on our dashboard: Floridajobs.org. Transparency is very important. In these uncertain times, people are uncertain about health and financial conditions with regard to benefits, I felt on my first day that we are public and overcommunicate.

Kelton: (Referring to a viewers email) She feels like she’s on a hamster wheel, what do you say to them?

Satter: I am extremely sympathetic. The hamster wheel is running very fast, we’re slowing it down, While I know patience is in short supply, that’s all I can ask for. Just be patient. We’re making progress minute by minute, hour by hour. We’ll get through this.

Kelton: She’s been waiting 7 weeks, is 7 weeks too long to be waiting for your benefits?

Satter: Four weeks is too long. And that’s why we have all the resources, the governor as given me all the resources the state has available to solving this problem and getting people paid as quickly as we can.

Kelton: Will she and others who filed for benefits be paid for all the time they’ve waisted online and on the phone?

Satter: Absolutely we recognized that there were issues with our systems. The systems were never designed for the number of claims being requested now. So, we will be affecting a retroactive period to March 9th, so it would be the day of their job loss or March 9th.

Kelton: As secretary of management service your job is to support state and local agencies. You’ve served under several governors, you’ve been in logistics, you know how large governments’ organizations are supposed to work -- Have you ever seen a bigger failure than the collapse of Florida’s ability to provide unemployment benefits o families?

Satter: I think the challenge is that we’ve never seen the volume that has presented itself. Dec 2019 claims were 23 to 24 thousand -- we are now seeing 60kto 70 thousand a day. The system wasn’t built to handle this kind of volume. It’s no excuse, but it’s just the facts of what we’re dealing with. And so, we’re trying to build up, whether it’s the call center or technology, we’re playing a catch-up game and we really appreciate everyone’s positive vibes and their patients. We’re going to get it done. it’s just going to take time.

Kelton: What is your message to families in Northeast Florida?

Satter: Just like my family my friends that are experiencing similar situations -- we hear you, we’re going to get to it, we promise. It’s the number one mission of the state enterprise right now.

Full Interview: