By Marilyn Odendahl, Truth Staff
modendahl@etruth.com
ELKHART -- The Indiana Department of Workforce Development unveiled plans Wednesday to improve services for the unemployed in Elkhart County, although some key details are still being settled.
As the county and cities of Elkhart and Goshen have risen to the top of the Indiana's unemployment rates, complaints and frustrations of the jobless have also increased. Out-of-work residents have reported that the computer program they must maneuver to file for benefits is confusing and the wait for help can take hours.
The new measures will expand the hours of operations at the WorkOne office on Waterfall Drive, bring in additional staff members to help the unemployed and open an auxiliary office elsewhere in Elkhart County.
"We want to make sure we are fully equipped to get people in and out and get them their benefits as quickly as possible," said Marc Lotter, spokesman for the DWD.
While the new hours will start Tuesday, the additional staff and second office will take another three to four weeks to materialize, Lotter said. New staff members are being hired and trained and possible office locations are being scouted.
A portion of the new hires are being pulled from the lines in the WorkOne offices. This move not only puts people who are already familiar with the state's unemployment system behind the customer service desk but also provides needed jobs, Lotter said.
In addition to augmenting the local WorkOne, the state agency is planning to put its employees in Elkhart, Wakarusa and Nappanee libraries. These DWD staff members would be available to help unemployed residents who use the computers at the public libraries to file for benefits.
Connie Jo Ozinga, director of the Elkhart Public Library system, said she has talked to WorkOne officials about putting department personnel in the downtown and neighborhood branches.
"We would take it in a minute," Ozinga said.
Because Sunday is the first day that jobless residents can file for their weekly payments, the libraries have been overrun. On Jan. 11, the Pierre Moran branch had 51 people waiting outside when it opened and the Dunlap branch served 25 filers within 15 minutes of unlocking the doors, Ozinga said. The library has crammed computers into as many corners as possible and even switched a couple of the computers that normally display only the card catalogues, but the long lines continue.
"I don't think they (the DWD) realized how bad it had gotten in the northern part of the state," she said.
The DWD touted its service record even as unemployment rolls have grown across Indiana. According to a press release, the agency is handling 85 percent of total unemployment claims within seven days and 93 percent of first-time claims within 21 days.
Lotter acknowledged the computer program workers have to use to file for unemployment benefits can be perplexing -- namely, the terminology can make the meaning of the questions difficult to decipher.
The state constantly monitors the computer system, Lotter said, and is looking at ways to modify the questions.
"We don't want people confused and not receiving their benefits in a timely manner," he said.