Drivers, wait for it …

By BRIAN WALKER

Staff Writer

COEUR d'ALENE — Barbara Franklin left the Driver’s Licensing Office in Coeur d'Alene frazzled.

The Coeur d'Alene woman knew there would be a wait Wednesday morning but still hoped she could take care of her business that day.

However, when she learned the wait time would be five hours despite being at the office at 10 a.m., she made an appointment for next week through the new QLess app, aimed at eliminating wait times.

"Now when I come in next time do I need to sign in again?" the visibly frustrated Franklin asked a county employee.

Franklin learned she won't have to do that, but chances are that when she comes back next week and "gets in line" for her appointment, her priority among the group waiting will likely increase the wait time of someone else who shows up that day for the first time.

That’s just one scenario involving wait times that underscores the frustrations of local residents and staffs at the Driver’s and Vehicle Licensing offices in Coeur d'Alene and Post Falls for the past two years.

At the heart of the agony is continuing software issues that fall under the responsibility of the Idaho Transportation Department.

Idaho is now the only state in the country in which Driver’s License Offices are staffed by the county sheriff's departments rather than the state, which issues licenses and provides the software for those operations.

Even with Kootenai County opening a Driver’s License Office in Post Falls, adding staff, the addition of the QLess app, opening both offices five days a week instead of four, and ITD developing a recent interim software solution to issue licenses, frustrations boil over.

County Commissioner Chris Fillios, who placed the saga on the agenda of Wednesday's meeting with elected county officials, said his office alone fields five to 10 phone calls a day from frustrated residents. Many continue to travel to Bonner or Shoshone counties to avoid the backlog in Kootenai County. Officials said those counties, in turn, are contemplating adding staff because of the influx of Kootenai County residents. They’re pleading with their Kootenai County counterparts to not encourage that route.

While the software issue has hamstrung offices statewide, lines in other counties are typically not as long because they haven't experienced growth at Kootenai County's level.

Vincent Trimboli, ITD's communication manager, said his agency admits problems linger and it's not the fault of the sheriff's offices.

"While the interim solution has stabilized the system, the process is slower," he said. "The backlog of customers caused by the vendor’s technology issues still persists at county driver’s licenses offices in Idaho.

"We are working on other potential long-term solutions to solve the major technology issues caused by the vendor software problems in August."

Those problems closed offices for several days and caused a backlog of customers.

"This system failure has at no time been the responsibility or fault of our county sheriffs and their staffs," Trimboli said. "This technological system failure is associated with the state’s vendor (Gemalto) that prints and issues the driver’s licenses."

ITD hasn't released specific long-term solutions that are being pursued.

"The sheriffs and their staffs as well as ITD staff are working tirelessly to address the issues and find short-term solutions to relieve the backlog," Trimboli said.

In a message to the counties from ITD Division of Motor Vehicles Administrator Alberto Gonzalez, he said there's a backlog of about 10,000 people at Driver’s License offices.

"This has put a huge strain on staff and citizens alike," he wrote, adding that the problem persists even though the recent number of transactions has surpassed figures from previous years.

Kootenai County Sheriff's Office Capt. Andy Deak said his department has been tracking how the shutdowns in the Coeur d'Alene and Post Falls offices have translated into the loss of customer service at taxpayers' expense.

From May through this month, there have been 884 total hours lost during shutdowns, he said. That’s translated into more than $15,000 in wages.

"The new operating system has regular and unanticipated outages as well as increased processing times," Deak said. "The solutions ITD has provided have included patches to the software system with instructions that change daily. This has caused a delay due to changing procedures."

Deak said driver’s licensing examiners often need to contact the "ITD Help Desk" to complete simple transactions.

Another recent hiccup has been residents needing to return to a Driver’s License Office because of wrong information on their newly issued license. One citizen, for example, had the information of his deceased father on his new license, Deak said.

"Additionally, folks enrolled in driver’s training have been receiving cards with full driving privileges when a learner’s permit should have been issued," Deak said. "All of these problems are generating somewhere in the ITD system and cannot be fixed by the local driver’s license staff or county IT personnel. These additional corrections not only require additional entry, it also increases wait times for patrons visiting the offices for testing and renewals."

Multiple officials said they have written letters to ITD about the pile of problems.

Kootenai County Assessor Mike McDowell, whose office staffs the Vehicle Licensing offices in Post Falls and Coeur d'Alene, said his department has created a separate line for those who haven't learned how or can't use the QLess app to "get in line."

The sheriff's office similarly implemented an express lane for license renewals only and will consider the same for the app scenario.

"We will do whatever we need to to make this work," Undersheriff Dan Mattos told the elected officials.

Mattos and McDowell said Kootenai County's explosive growth has also naturally translated into longer wait times.

"We're 40 percent busier than we were four years ago," McDowell said. "We realize we're not hitting the level of service we'd like, but we're also doing everything we can."

McDowell, who said his department has also been affected by frequent down times with computer problems at the state level, called the issue "unacceptable and unprecedented."

"There's an almost-weekly event, and it shouldn't be that way," he said, adding that he hopes issues with new software are resolved before an "upgrade" occurs on the Vehicle Licensing side.

While staff has been added to both local operations, the positions filled have been less than what was requested, thanks to budget constraints.

Mattos summed up the mess as "a perfect storm of problems."

Deak said that with the computer issue lingering, it would be hard to determine the sufficient staffing levels but brainstorming still continues. He said, for example, the idea of an additional Driver's License Office in Hayden or Rathdrum has been mentioned.

Mattos added: "Even if we had the staff, I don't know if we'd have the facilities to handle the volume."

Officials say some residents also continue to be confused over which office offers the service they're looking for.

"It's one of the most confusing subjects in the county," Commissioner Marc Eberlein said.