County plans to address wait times

COEUR d'ALENE — As Kootenai County officials wrestle with shortening lines and wait times at Drivers License offices amid frustrations from patrons, Sheriff Ben Wolfinger has thrown out another option to consider:

Letting the Idaho Department of Transportation take the wheel and run the department.

Idaho and Nebraska are the only two states in which the county sheriff's offices staff Drivers License offices.

"I think it's a state function and should be a state cost," Wolfinger said. "We don't recoup the costs for it. It's local taxpayers subsidizing the state.

"(The state staffing Drivers License offices) seems to work well in 48 other states. We've talk about underfunded mandates and the fact is that the Drivers License offices doesn't pay for itself."

Wolfinger said he believes the state should be required to share more in the cost of running the offices or take them over altogether.

"The offices should be self-sustaining, not a drain to the taxpayers," he said.

County Commissioner Chris Fillios said since the sheriff's offices in Idaho are mandated by law to staff Drivers License offices, it would require a legislative fix to make the handoff.

However, in the meantime, commissioners and the Sheriff's Office are left with solving the wait-time frustrations in the short term. The long waits have some residents organizing a protest on a date to be determined.

In response to an article in The Press last week on wait times, Fillios placed the topic on Monday's commission agenda to discuss.

Commissioners said "express lanes" for renewals only — planned for both the Post Falls and Coeur d'Alene offices — should help, along with an automated system that allows residents to schedule appointments with smart phones. Both those features will be installed around the first of the year.

A Drivers License office recently opened in Post Falls that's open Tuesday through Friday is also helping, Wolfinger said. The Coeur d'Alene office is open Monday through Thursday.

Fillios said a meeting between the commissioners and Sheriff's Office on what more can be done to solve the line problem will be scheduled. The topic was on Monday's agenda, but Undersheriff Dan Mattos, who was at the meeting earlier to discuss jail expansion staffing before he left, said he didn't realize his presence was desired by the commission later when the item was discussed.

Fillios said wait times need to be addressed. Some residents have gone outside Kootenai County to do their business due to the long lines.

"Our residents are our clients," he said. "We've got to service these people properly."

Commissioner Marc Eberlein agreed.

"If McDonald's was open four days a week, they'd be out of business tomorrow," he said. "I think getting the express lanes open will be a good thing."

Eberlein said he believes it's possible, through recent personnel changes, to have both offices open five days a week. However, Wolfinger said he's emphasized from the start that an additional four people would be needed for that to happen.

Wolfinger said the addition of two new positions last year allowed the Post Falls office to open.

The addition of one more employee for the upcoming fiscal year will allow one of the offices to be open five days a week, he said. He said another examiner (the fourth employee) will need to be approved in the next fiscal year to be able to open the other office five days a week.

Fillios said it may still be too early to tell the full effect of opening the Post Falls office since it has only been open more than one month. Some residents may still be learning that it's an option, he said.

"It's a new operation and sometimes you have to let things iron out before things run smoothly," he said. "You'll also see us using more technology to move things faster."