news-record.com

GREENSBORO — Rich Martin thought he’d swing by the DMV license plate office on West Market Street during his lunch break Monday. One look at the parking lot, jammed with cars even on a gray and rainy day, and he decided against it.

“I wanted to do a title transfer, nothing complicated,” Martin said. “We just wanted to give our old car to our daughter who’s going to college. I don’t think that would take too long, but I don’t have time to wait in those kinds of lines.”

License plate offices in North Carolina are usually run by private contractors chosen by the state Department of Motor Vehicles. The DMV would like to see at least three offices in Guilford County, given the population. But the location on West Market and another on Westchester Drive in High Point have been handling all the county’s customers since a third location at the Golden Gate Shopping Center was closed in September.

County Manager Brenda Jones Fox and County Tax Director Ben Chavis pushed for months to have the Guilford County Tax Department operate its own license plate office. Their plan was approved by the DMV but unanimously rejected by the Guilford County Board of Commissioners last week.

Commissioners said the county shouldn’t compete with private contractors to run the offices.

Commissioners Vice Chairman Kirk Perkins went further, calling the plan one of the worst he’s seen come before the board.

With the county withdrawing its application, DMV officials say it could be weeks or months before another contractor is properly vetted and awarded the contract.

DMV officials said Monday they weren’t yet aware Guilford County was withdrawing its contract. That will delay the process of opening a new office, they said, but couldn’t say by how long.

“We’ll move to the next qualified candidate in the search process,” said N.C. DMV spokeswoman Marge Howell. “But we have to turn that name over to the commissioner and then there has to be a thorough background check. My guess is that could take several weeks. We don’t really have a timeline yet.”

The lines at the West Market Street location snaked along the walls Monday as impatient customers tried to buy new license tags, renew old ones, transfer titles and do other title work.

“It’s like this all the time, basically no matter when you come,” said Dorothea Patton, 43. “But it’s this or you drive all the way to High Point.”

The West Market Street office handled about 192,000 customer transactions last year, according to the N.C. DMV. The High Point location handled about 109,000.

Some county commissioners say they’re unhappy that the county went so far into a plan to open its own license plate office before the county commissioners, who must make the ultimate decision, were even consulted.

“It just seems like a waste of everyone’s time,” said Commissioner Paul Gibson.

Gibson said a serious, private contractor could have been found by now had the county not taken it so far.

“It’s just another example of us not being told what’s going on,” Gibson said.

Contact Joe Killian at 373-7023 or joe.killian@news-record.com