TOWN OF SOUTHEAST – Business is booming at the Putnam County DMV office in Southeast and officials admit they are being overwhelmed by the hundreds of customers visiting the office each day.
County Clerk Michael Bartolotti stopped at the office last Wednesday afternoon and met with his deputy county clerk in charge of Motor Vehicles Christine Wooley.
The pair reported since the state’s new Green Light law went into effect last month, business has more than doubled at the local facility. “We used to service anywhere from 175 to 200 customers a day. Since the law became effective, we are servicing upwards of 500 patrons daily seeking permit test appointments, reciprocities, license renewals and those trying to beat the Real ID deadline. It’s been a perfect storm.”
At 2:30 in the afternoon, a line of some two dozen customers patiently waited outside the DMV office while a sheriff’s deputy allowed customers into the building once a line of some 50-75 customers moved along.
Similar long lines have been observed in neighboring counties including in Orange County, where only the main DMV office in Goshen is accepting Green Light law applications for undocumented residents.
Bartolotti said when the new law became effective and lines snaked around the building, “my staff and I felt badly for the poor people waiting outside in the cold so we configured a new pattern inside the office allowing for more people to enter at one time.”
Additional help is also now needed and Bartolotti said a civil service test will soon be held allowing the county to hire part-time staff. “Once they are hired, these people will walk the lines making sure people have their forms completed correctly as well as handle simple DMV tasks such as surrendering a license plate.”
Ron Davies and his wife visited the DMV office last Wednesday to renew their licenses. The senior citizens arrived at 11:15 a.m. and didn’t leave the office until 3:30 p.m. “I never saw anything like this,” said Davies, adding, “Let’s just call it stupidity beyond belief. While the clerks were pleasant and understanding, service was terribly slow. One guy told me it took him three days to get the information needed with trips back and forth. I hope our esteemed legislators in Albany realize the monster they have created.”
To complicate matters, Dutchess County officials have ordered their offices including one operated in Pawling not to handle any DMV business except for Dutchess residents.
A number of Putnam residents were turned away and contacted State Senator Peter Harckham whose staff reported the incidents to the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, which indicated the Pawling office must process applications for all eligible customers regardless of their county of residency.
Bartolotti disagreed with his neighbor to the north. “In Putnam County we might be a local office yet we are an instrumentality of the DMV. Any customer from any part of the state is welcome. This is what we are here to do.”
The Putnam DMV office is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.
When Wooley arrives each morning before dawn to prepare for the day ahead, customers are already lined up. “Take this morning for example. Seven people were waiting at 6:45 a.m. for the office to open,” she said.
Bartolotti said while his staff is “doing the best it can under the circumstances, my concern is for the spring and early summer when the deadline approaches for the license Real ID.”
Bartolotti has encouraged residents in need of the new driver’s license to “get your paperwork in order now. I can’t predict what the summer caseload will look like.”
Parking at the DMV office has also become a nightmare in the wake of the hundreds of people conducting business on a daily basis. One man reported it took him 35 minutes circling the building until a space opened up. Another man said he parked his car off Route 312 and walked up a steep hill to the office.
Bartolotti said he and the county executive’s office were exploring several options to obtain additional temporary parking. “We definitely need more parking.”
Bartolotti returned earlier in the week from a county clerk’s forum in Albany.
“Our problems are miniscule compared to those being experienced by some of our DMV offices around the region and the state. Reports of people spending an entire day are common. Even though I don’t like our Putnam customers waiting, the wait is much shorter than in other locales,” he said.
