[the Scott administration] had told me to come in here and balance this budget no matter what, I would have told them, ‘I’m not interested,’ because I don’t think it can be done and it’s not the right thing to do. But that’s not what they asked me to do. They asked me to try to do the best job I could in figuring out are we using these resources as wisely as they can be used. And I’m certainly agreeable to do that and that’s exactly what we’re trying to do.”

To that end, the agency has taken a look at “core services.” What are core services? It has been somewhat controversial because core services differ from person to person. Where does this plan stand right now? 

“Obviously it has generated a lot of controversy — the notion of core services —  and we are planning to move away from core services because I think it was misconstrued. I think what our intention was, and how it was viewed, were two different things. And I don’t think that concept is a useful concept to move forward, so we are going to discontinue the use of the term.”

Will you discontinue the use of the term but move on with the idea?

“Well, the idea is we have to find a way to correct budgets for ‘extraordinary need,’ that’s the term used in the statute. We are trying to figure out a way of coming up with a proxy for people who have extraordinary needs. That’s what we are looking at trying to figure out. But the distinction I think you have to make is, it’s one thing to determine the amount of money someone needs to meet their extraordinary needs. It’s another thing to say, ‘These are core services and these are the only serves you can have access to.’ We never were saying that and we are not saying that now, but I think the use of the term led people to believe we were saying that.

“We are moving forward with a definition of ‘extraordinary need.’ We are trying to quantify that definition, but we don’t want people to get confused between the notion of extraordinary need and limits on how they can spend their cost plan. Our clients are only going to benefit from the concept of extraordinary need. No one is harmed. People are only benefitted by that, and that’s what I’ll hope they will understand.  The idea is we want to make sure people have a safe place to live.”

One month ago you said the approximate price tag of the ibudget (APD’s new system of budgeting that gives clients a set allocation of money but with more flexibility on how to spend it) with the algorithm is about $870 million. Has that number changed?

“No, I think it is about that number. It would cost us a lot less than that if we decided we don’t want to care of ‘extraordinary needs.’ ”

Are you asking the Legislature to change the mission statement of this agency to bring it more in line with your appropriations?

Well, some bills are going to be filed. Until a bill is filed it’s not a public record so I don’t want to speak. I think, and you’ve heard me testify, that there may be some incongruence between [APD’s mission statement] and the actual amount of the appropriation. I think there could be some tweaking to clarify those points.”

Are you a cattle rancher?

“I am a person who enjoys living in the country. Growing up I lived in all the big cities in the Northeast but my preference is the country. So I live now on 52 acres in Wakulla County and I’ve got some cattle. I used to have some hogs. I have chickens. I enjoy that life. I also grow a lot of trees. So that’s the other side of me. The non-work side of me. I’m like [President] George Bush 43. On my days off or my vacations, I’m out there working in the woods, clearing brush, building fences. Then there’s the other side of me, the reason I’m in Florida is I love the water. I have boats and my other passion is fishing, spear fishing and cast netting. So those are the things I do when i’m not doing this. It’s a nice contrast.”

Reporter Christine Jordan Sexton can be reached at csexton@thefloridacurrent.com.

Reporter Travis Pillow contributed to this story. Travis Pillow can be reached at tpillow@thefloridacurrent.com