In an earlier post, I mentioned that I was going to attend one of the seminars for state employees today. I wanted to go to get some answers that I could report to those who might not be able to get to one of the meetings. Well, apparently, we (the media) weren’t invited. When I got there, I was instructed that we could go in and get some quick video, but we weren’t going to be allowed to stay once employees started asking questions. Commissioner Goetz told me this was to make sure that state employees would feel comfortable asking specific questions.
That said, a few state employees were more than happy to share their experiences with us about what happened inside. This was really an opportunity for many state employees to ask specific questions and get specific answers. One employee said the biggest problem was that so many people had specific questions, that she ran out of time waiting for her turn.
These meetings aren’t the only option, as many of you know. There is also a call center, which is now averaging about 350 calls a day and the website. Please feel free to share your experiences with the website, the call center and the town hall meetings with me. The people I talked to today said the call center wasn’t as helpful as they’d hoped, but that the meetings were a great opportunity.
