A  U. North Florida Grand Master INTELLIKEY was reported missing to UPD Aug. 27. The key has access to every door in UNF student housing.

Paul Riel, Director of Housing and Resident Life, said the staff member misplaced her keys three to four days before it was reported missing to UPD.

“In our mind, while we were optimistic we could find it, we had to prepare an action plan for us to correct it,” Riel said.

The solution is to reprogram every door lock and all 2,837 student keys, starting at 9 a.m. Sept. 2 at Osprey Village residence halls, working until 10 p.m. each day.

They hope to finish reprogramming in seven days or less. Riel said it won’t take very long, approximately 50 seconds per door and another 20 seconds per student key.

“We believe this is the only way to assure that that key is being prevented from being used,” he said.

Riel would not release the name of the staff member responsible for losing the key.  And unlike students, who must pay a $40 replacement fee for a key, there will be no repercussion.

“Certainly not,” Riel said of fines. “Nor will we charge for anything we’re doing to correct it, it’s a staff key.”

In his almost 11 years working at student housing, Riel said he cannot recall an incident like this one, which he calls a “pretty dramatic thing.”

“Not to my knowledge [has this happened before], at least not publicly, ” he said.

UNF maintenance worker Dennis Holler was sent to Melbourne to work with the vendor, INTELLIKEY, to write the code that will reprogram and update the doors. Holler will return Sept. 1 to begin the process Sept. 2.

Reprogramming stations will be set up near the buildings that are being reprogrammed, and if students cannot be there while their building is being done, they can reprogram their keys at the UNF Student Housing Office between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. or at the Osprey Fountains Welcome Desk, which is open 24 hours.

There are currently 37 grand master keys currently issued; professional staff members have 12, maintenance nechanics have 11, custodial on-call have one, student maintenance On-call has one, which is kept in the office and checked out nightly, pest control  has one, firefighters have two, ITS has three and UPD has six.