Guinn proposes quick fix for DMV’s computer-related delays

Friday, Oct. 8, 1999 | 10:02 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Gov. Kenny Guinn says the trouble-plagued computer system at the state Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety is getting better, but he's not willing yet to offer a money-back guarantee to customers who have to stand in line too long.

The governor announced a five-point plan Thursday to speed up service both to those who go to local offices and those who mail in their registrations. These steps, he said, won't cost any extra money.

To illustrate his point that service is improving, he said the longest wait at the busy Henderson office was 1 1/2 hours. "It's getting better, but it has a long-way to go," Guinn told a press conference.

Asked if he would be willing to start a money-back guarantee for anybody who stood in line more than 1 1/2 hours, Guinn replied he would not and added there was no money to fund a program of that kind.

Called Genesis, the new computer system, which has cost an estimated $25 million so far, was rolled out Sept. 7. It ran into immediate troubles. What used to be a 30-minute wait turned into a six- to eight-hour delay. Mail-in auto registrations, which were processed in five to seven days, now take over 30 days.

But Guinn said there is no turning back to the old system, as recommended by a legislative subcommittee. That would bring the department to a complete halt because it would have to load in all the information taken from this month.

The old system, called Legacy, will be kept as a backup. He said it was not 100 percent Y2K ready, although lawmakers were told that $500,000 was spent on it to make it compliant.

"The old system was going to fail us anyway," Guinn said.

This is "my number one priority," Guinn said. But there are no estimates when the waiting times will return to pre-Genesis days.

His plan to remedy the problem calls for hiring 42 temporary employees. Fifteen will be placed in the mail room to help with registration renewals in Carson City; 15 will be in the field at the "hottest spots," mostly in Southern Nevada where the lines are the longest and 12 will be staffing a new hot line, (877) DMV-STATE, to answer motorists' questions before they go into the branch offices.

An estimated backlog of 56,000 motor vehicle registrations in the mail room is up from about 12,000 when Genesis started. Guinn hopes the logjam can be reduced in a month.

The money to pay these added workers will come from savings from vacant positions and from overtime funds that were budgeted. He said there would not be anything above budget.

The system, when it was conceived in 1995 was estimated to cost $35 million over a seven-year period. About $25 has been spent so far.

He directed the Nevada Highway Patrol not to ticket motorists whose registration is not current because of the Genesis crisis.

The governor is speeding up development of new technologies that he hopes to have on line in the first six to eight months next year. They were not scheduled until the 2001 fiscal year.

These include allowing simple renewal of auto registration and driver's licenses by Internet or telephone and registration of vehicles when they annually visit the smog stations in Las Vegas and Reno.

That will allow a "diversity of places" for persons to transact their business, the governor said. And they won't have to come to the state agencies, except for first-time registration or for complex transactions.

In addition, Guinn said the problem of the slowdown in communications in registering cars in rural Nevada has been cleared up. For example, Douglas County said it could only register about seven vehicles a day, compared to 47 in the past. Guinn said the speed-up in the communications will bring that back to pre-Genesis.