Supervisor says current quarters too small for growing number of testers
The Hamilton County Commission thought it had solved one of its courthouse space issues several months ago when it moved the state Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) driver’s license office out of the room it had occupied on Tuesdays for the past several years to make room for County Attorney Douglas Dexter to move into that space. Since County Veterans Service Officer Mike Irons wasn’t using his office down the hall on those days, the DMV office was moved in there. However, at Monday’s commission meeting, a representative of the DMV showed up to inform the board that the new location was not working out.
Janie Johannes, District 3 Supervisor for the Nebraska DMV, told the commission “it definitely is not working for us.” Reminding the commissioners that state statute mandates that counties must provide space for licensing offices, Johannes said that the office is too small for the numbers of people showing up each Tuesday to take their driver’s tests.
She said the space would possibly work if Irons got rid of his desk, but said with the desk in the room there is not even enough space for a person in a wheel chair to turn around.
“It is just absolutely not working,” Johannes said, noting that the office is serving 35 to 40 people each week with many of them driving in from Grand Island because it is more convenient that using the facilities in Hall County.
County Treasurer Jody Griffith backed up Johannes’s testimony about the overcrowding situation, adding that people were showing up at 6 a.m. on Tuesdays to wait until the courthouse opened to take their test.
Johannes also said the situation is not likely to improve any time soon because more and more people are coming to the office all the time. She said it was not unusual for eight or nine people to be in the office at one time with three of them trying to take their written driver’s test.
Several months ago when the issue first came up at a commission meeting, the commissioners considered moving the DMV out of the courthouse entirely, but that idea was dropped because the drivers would need to come to the Treasurer’s Office in the courthouse anyway to pay their fees, since the state office is not equipped to take money.
Noting that in Holdrege, the county seat of Phelps County, the DMV is located at the fairgrounds, Johannes inquired as to whether that might work in Hamilton County.
County Highway Supt. Jeremy Brandt, who also serves as the secretary for the Ag Society, said it might work to move the DMV to the fairgrounds but said the board would have to discuss it.
Following some moments of silence as the commissioners pondered the matter, Chairman Rich Nelson said to Johannes, “I don’t think we can give you an answer today!”
He continued: “It’s ridiculous that the state is pushing it back on us. This is people not from Hamilton County coming here. It is frustrating.”
While expressing his anger and frustration at the situation and at the state agency, Nelson assured Johannes, “It’s not your fault.”
The matter was tabled while Brandt talks about relocating the DMV to the fairground with the Ag Society.
In other business on Monday, the board approved a temporary liquor license for the Fairgrounds for the evening of Aug. 17 when the Figure 8 Racing Championships return to Aurora for the first time in several years.
With the county’s budget deadline of Aug. 1 looming, the commission also heard budget presentations from several more county offices and agencies.