TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Laura Kelly on Tuesday named the Kansas Department of Labor's deputy secretary as its top administrator as she works to find another, permanent leader for an agency that struggled for months to process a surge in claims from workers left unemployed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Acting Secretary Brett Flachsbarth became the third person to lead the Department of Labor in less than seven months. Kelly's first labor secretary, Delia Garcia, resign in June amid problems with the system for distributing unemployment benefits. Her replacement, Acting Secretary Ryan Wright was allowed by law to serve only six months, which ended Tuesday.

The Democratic governor credited Wright with improving the Department of Labor's operations and making “significant progress” in building a system to handle a program created by Congress to provide benefits under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program to independent contractors and other workers who normally don't receive benefits. But top Republican in the GOP-controlled Legislature said the department continues to struggle and he's still getting complaints from constituents about their benefits being delayed.

“I don't know that it improves anything or weakens anything,” incoming Senate Majority leader Gene Suellentrop, a Wichita Republican, said of Flachsbarth's appointment.

Kelly said during a Statehouse news conference that she hopes to name a permanent secretary “in the next couple of weeks.” That appointment would require Kansas Senate confirmation, when an acting secretary's appointment does not.

The changes at the Department of Labor come as the state continues to see hundreds of new confirmed and probable coronavirus cases day. Kansas has reported more than 204,000 cases since the pandemic reached the state in early March, or one for every 14 of its 2.9 million residents.

The state's economy has weakened again recently, with a rise in new, initial claims for regular unemployment benefits in recent weeks. The state's unemployment rate jumped to 5.6% in November from 5% in October, after dropping steadily from a 11.9% peak in April, when a statewide stay-at-home order issued by Kelly was in effect.

The Department of Labor acknowledged that it had a backlog of 25,000 regular unemployment claims in June, but spokesman Jerry Grasso said it was fewer than 3,000 as of Monday, down from almost 3,600 the week before. Kelly put the backlog Tuesday afternoon at about 1,800 claims.

For the extra Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, Grasso said, 11,000 people with claims have submitted part or all of the documents they'd need to receive it. He said the state has another 14,000 to 15,000 “phantom” claims that either have been abandoned or are fraudulent. He said the department is handling about 500 issues related the PUA program a day.

The Department of Labor has said it has received more than 150,000 fraudulent claims for PUA benefits. Suellentrop, a business owner, said his name was used for one a month ago.

Kelly said the department “has largely been stabilized” under Wright. He is returning to his old job as Kelly's deputy chief of staff.

“Are there problems still? Yes. Will there be problems tomorrow? Yes,” Kelly said. “But it's how we approach problem-solving that's most important, and we have approached it pretty aggressively, and, I think, been able to resolve most of the problems.”

Flachsbarth joined the labor department in 2005 and became deputy secretary in January 2019, when Kelly took office. The governor said he “knows the ins-and-outs of the issues” facing the agency.

Kelly and Department of Labor officials have blamed problems in processing claims for benefits on the agency decades-old computer system. Grasso said officials there have discussed upgrades costing about $30 million, with the cost possibly spread out over several years.

Suellentrop said: “We have to find a way to stand up another system as just absolutely as quick as possible. This is not going to go away.”

The pandemic also prompted Kelly to alter her plans for giving the governor's annual State of the State address after the Legislature convenes its 90-day annual session Jan. 11. She plans to give a virtual address, rather than doing it in person in the House chamber at the Statehouse, with lawmakers, the Kansas Supreme Court and other officials packed into the hall.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers of Wisconsin announced earlier this month that he'd give a virtual State of the State address as well.

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Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna

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This story has been corrected to correct Brett Flachsbarth's last name.