Legislative panel balks at giving more help to DMV

Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2000 | 9:41 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A plan endorsed by Gov. Kenny Guinn to hire 57 more employees for the trouble-plagued state Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety received a no-confidence vote from a legislative subcommittee Tuesday.

The real test would come today when the department was to ask the Legislative Interim Finance Committee for a loan of $216,716 to employ the workers starting next Monday.

Assemblywoman Vonne Chowning, D-North Las Vegas, led the criticism of the department, suggesting there was no crisis at the agency. She said department officials testified in November that things were getting back to normal after the early troubles with the new Genesis computer system.

When the computer system started up, there were long waits for motorists who wanted vehicle registrations or driver's licenses -- sometimes up to four and five hours. Chowning said she is not getting any more calls from angry consumers about the long waits.

"Where's the crisis?" she asked. "I don't understand the need for all the new employees."

Chowning said the new workers would be ready after training in the spring, when the department puts on its new technology to permit motorists to renew their driver's licenses and vehicle registration by telephone or the Internet. And motorists in Clark and Washoe counties could renew their registration when getting smog checks. Those things, Chowning suggested, could cut down on office visits.

Ginny Lewis, deputy director for the department, admitted "things are getting better," but they are not at an acceptable level, she said. The lines in the offices in Clark County are about two hours and sometimes three and four hours at the Reno office. Southern Nevada waits have been as long as two to three hours.

The problem isn't the computer any more, she said. It's the need for new workers to fill the windows in the offices. The goal, she said, is for a one-hour wait.

The present employees, Lewis said, "are burned out ... stressed out." They have worked long hours to get the business taken care of. They have had to split their days off to handle the big volume of business on Mondays and Fridays.

"They are tired of working at night," Lewis said.

Lewis also said nobody knows how the public will accept the new technology. She said there are many motorists who still go to a local office to renew the vehicle registration, despite the fact it can be mailed in. She said she doesn't know if people will try the new systems when they become available.

The extra employee request was endorsed last month by the state Board of Examiners, of which Guinn is chairman. At the time, he adamantly defended the request.

But Chowning said the Legislature in 1995 authorized 96 new workers to allow for extended office hours in Southern Nevada and then another 13 positions in 1997, also for extended hours in Clark County. The Legislature rejected the request in 1999 for more employees, telling the agency that it should fill the 57 vacancies it had in field services.

Chowning said there were still 39 positions unfilled as of December. Lewis said the vacancies were down to 21 and that's out of 500 employees, which is not a high level.

But Lewis said the addition of the new employees would give "better coverage" at the windows. She said 17 of the total requested would allow the Henderson office to open on Saturdays.

Lewis wants to station 23 of the employees in Clark County, 24 at the Reno office, which is the worst trouble spot now, one in Fallon, seven in Carson City to handle the mail-in business for vehicle titles and registration renewals, and two to become training officers.

Assemblywoman Sharron Angle, R-Reno, who said her constituents are waiting four hours for service at the Reno office, called the situation is serious.