This is an economic area of 66,000 (not including the smaller towns to the east of Klamath Falls that relied on the K-Falls SS office). Claimant's and beneficiaries will have to travel 75 winding miles over a snowy mountain range to the nearest SS office. And now there is no location for ODAR hearing trips, so claimants will have to travel 75 miles to Medford for hearing trip hearings scheduled out of Eugene ODAR (Medford is about 150 miles south of Eugene) or farther to Bend or Eugene. This is a questionable money savings move considering the population level and distances involved.
The Klamath Falls office was a resident station, staffed by an SSA employee one day per week. It was not a field office. It has not been fully staffed, 5 days per week, for many years, if ever. It hardly justifies mentioning, let alone continued funding. Klamath Falls residents may file for benefits by telephone or online. As a taxpayer, this is a sound business decision.
Generally, a one-day-open a week office isn't even a RS--it's usually a contact station with an SSA employee stationed in a public building or library somewhere. If this is an actual SSA facility, and it's only open once a week with one EE, it should have been closed a long time ago. These little outposts have far outlived their purpose and their maintenance costs cannot be justified. Good for the Seattle Region.
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This is an economic area of 66,000 (not including the smaller towns to the east of Klamath Falls that relied on the K-Falls SS office). Claimant's and beneficiaries will have to travel 75 winding miles over a snowy mountain range to the nearest SS office. And now there is no location for ODAR hearing trips, so claimants will have to travel 75 miles to Medford for hearing trip hearings scheduled out of Eugene ODAR (Medford is about 150 miles south of Eugene) or farther to Bend or Eugene. This is a questionable money savings move considering the population level and distances involved.
What type of claims get priority at the field offices now?
Whatever management deems to be the "statistical goal of the month"
The Klamath Falls office was a resident station, staffed by an SSA employee one day per week. It was not a field office. It has not been fully staffed, 5 days per week, for many years, if ever. It hardly justifies mentioning, let alone continued funding. Klamath Falls residents may file for benefits by telephone or online. As a taxpayer, this is a sound business decision.
Generally, a one-day-open a week office isn't even a RS--it's usually a contact station with an SSA employee stationed in a public building or library somewhere. If this is an actual SSA facility, and it's only open once a week with one EE, it should have been closed a long time ago. These little outposts have far outlived their purpose and their maintenance costs cannot be justified. Good for the Seattle Region.
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