Guinn announces plan to remedy DMV woes

Angie Wagner

Friday, Oct. 8, 1999 | 9:28 a.m.

Gov. Kenny Guinn said Thursday he has a cure for the long lines of angry customers at Department of Motor Vehicle offices across the state - more employees, round-the-clock operation of mail-in services and a telephone hotline.

"I'm not here to point fingers or to lay blame. I am here to let the public know the ultimate responsibility for the problems ... is mine," Guinn said at a news conference to announce his plan.

But he left open the possibility of later litigation against outside consultants hired to create and trouble-shoot the new $35 million-plus Genesis computer.

Ever since the DMV started using Genesis on Sept. 7, long lines have been the norm at offices statewide because of bugs in the system. Many people wait hours to renew their registrations or to get a driver's license.

After a month of observing the problems, Guinn said it's time to remedy Genesis.

Guinn said he is declaring an emergency within the DMV that will allow for the hiring of 43 temporary staffers. He also said the mail room will be staffed 24 hours to catch up on the backlog of mail-in registrations.

The governor is asking law enforcement officers to grant motorists a 30-day grace period for all registration renewals.

A telephone hotline, 1-877-DMV-STATE, has been established to answer consumer questions.

Guinn also said several new registration technologies, including using the Internet and telephone to register cars, will be implemented faster than expected. The new services should be in place by June 2000.

"The program's inability to serve the people of Nevada is extremely frustrating to the public, the staff at DMV and to me personally," Guinn said. "It most certainly has not reached an acceptable level and it has a long ways to go."

Members of a legislative subcommittee met Tuesday to discuss the problems with Genesis and agreed that the new computer program has so many bugs that an old program should be revived temporarily.

But Guinn said abandoning Genesis is not an option, adding that this is not a time to "duck our head and run for cover." He said taxpayers' investment in Genesis must be protected.

Guinn, who inherited the Genesis project when he took over from former Gov. Bob Miller last January, said the waiting time at DMV offices has gotten shorter since the program's first few days.

"This is my top priority. I understand the frustration of these individuals," he said.

Guinn repeated his comments at a second news conference in Carson City. Afterwards, he was asked about possible litigation should a down-the-road analysis of the Genesis startup suggests that Deloitte & Touch Consulting or Best Consulting didn't meet terms of contracts worth more than $13 million to them.

Deloitte had a contract for about $10 million to create Genesis and fix any bugs once it started up. Best had a $3.6 million contract to trouble-shoot the system.

"Oh sure, you can always take them to court," said Guinn. "I want to do what we're doing and keep making progress. Then, when we get there, I'll say, alright, the smoke has cleared. Now let's sit down and see what happened to us, and why, and who did what to who."

"We've got the contracts to see what they were supposed to do," he added. The final date for meeting contract terms is Dec. 7.