Patience required
Gallup MVD office — A ton of people, a lot of waiting

Kyle Yellowhair, of Crownpoint N.M., waits in line for a number at the Motor Vehicle Department along Aztec Avenue Friday afternoon in Gallup N.M. Another man, Micah Richards took a ticket at 10:31 am that morning and waited two hours before his number was called. [photo by Daniel Zollinger / Independent]

By Gaye Brown
de Alvarez
Staff writer

GALLUP — When Jim Jones of Vanderwagen went to renew his vehicle registration at the Gallup Motor Vehicle Department on Aztec Street, he didn’t know it would take 61ž2 hours. He was there from 10 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.

He was in the building so long the battery on his vehicle went dead when he accidentally left his radio on, he said in a telephone interview.

Then, a couple of days later, he had to go back to get his driver’s license renewed. He said the parking lot was full, and so were the seats inside, and there was only one person behind the counter helping the public.

“Last time I got a four-year license, but this time I got an eight-year license, because I don’t want to go through that again. And also, the license has to be mailed to you and I renewed it the first week on June, and it still hasn’t come in the mail.”

He said he wasn’t mad but “when you see only one person working and there are six counters and the parking lot is full, you get frustrated.” He said that when he drove by June 11 and the parking lot was so full that there were vehicles parked on the street on Aztec. He said he had been to motor vehicle offices in other states, such as New York, and never had to wait so long.

He has talked to about a dozen people who all agreed with him about the MVD service. It’s bad, he said. “If they could do more of this by mail, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.”

On Tuesday, May 10, Tammy Howard from Gallup had to wait 15 to 20 minutes to renew her vehicle registration and she felt that was too long. At noon, that same day, there were two customer-service people behind the counter, one person at the information desk, and 24 people sitting in chairs waiting for service.

Joe Harper of Tse Bonito came into town to get a motorcycle license so he could drive his Suzuki enduro motorcycle legally. He arrived at 11:10 a.m., his number was called at the window at 1:07 p.m., and his motorcycle driving test took a half-hour. He was there a little more than two hours, mostly waiting just for his number to be called.

Toby Williams, bureau chief from the Office of Complaints, said he was not allowed to talk to the media, but then went on to say that the new driver’s license program where the license is mailed instead of getting issued by the MVD office “has slowed us down somewhat.” He also said sometimes the computer system is down, such as it was on May 29 and 30 when he supposed Jim Jones was delayed for 51ž2 hours.

“It’s the person’s option on whether to stay and wait or not,” he said. He also said there were 90 MVD offices in the state and they were separated into four different regions. When asked if there were any additional offices in the Gallup area to service the large population, he said yes, there was one in Grants, one in Cuba and one in Farmington. He said he was in charge of the operations of 25 offices, some are state offices, such as the one in Gallup, some are run in conjunction with municipalities, and some of the smaller ones are privately owned, such as MVD Express in Albuquerque.

Raul Alvarez, deputy director of the Motor Vehicle Department said in a telephone interview that the department regularly evaluates the number of customers each office has and the number of employees available to service the area.

Several of the Gallup employees have been out on sick and personal leave, and the office has been shorthanded. There is one vacancy at the office, and that job opening is posted online.

He went on to explain that many people needing MVD services come in during lunchtime, which is when the MVD employees are also taking their lunch period. The employees stagger their lunch hours, but it still results in a lack of service during the mid-day.

Alvarez said the Santa Fe officials are looking for ways to relieve the lunchtime crunch, including finding temporary help during those hours.

David Harwell, a spokesman for N.M. Tax and Revenue, which supervises the Motor Vehicle Department said that things have changed since 9ž11. Clerks have to do more and more to “make sure people are who they say they are.”

These are not easy transactions, Harwell said. Everybody in the state wants these clerks to be careful and check because there are many people coming from other parts of the country to try to get false New Mexico IDs. But the department is still funded at the same levels they were before 9ž11, he said. They also are getting ready to launch more new processes to assure against ID theft and to issue handicap placards and this could create longer wait times.

On Monday, June 16 at 11:45 a.m., there wasn’t a single parking space in the MVD lot. Inside, there were four employees and a completely full waiting area of about 60 people. One man standing at the counter said to the crowd, “I’ve been here since 8:30.”

When asked about the crowd, Gallup MVD Manager Lydia Mazon said that she went out into the crowd earlier in the morning and asked “How many people are here for a vehicle registration?” She said four people raised their hands. “How many people are here for a driver’s license?” She said only five people raised their hands. “Four or five people come inside for one transaction, because it is too hot to wait in the car. So the whole family is in here, where it’s air conditioned.”

The wait period has increased significantly since the new driver’s license program was enacted. She is trying to figure out ways to streamline the process, but she said, its the same in every MVD office in the state, and showed some figures showing the wait times across the state.

“And then,” she added. “The computers go down. I get on the PA and tell everybody that the computers are down and they will have to wait longer to complete their business here.” She said some people leave and some stay.

Alvarez suggested one way to improve MVD service in Gallup is to open a privately operated office.

Still, those wanting a vehicle registration, state ID or driver’s license must set aside most of the day — and for many working people — that is a price they can ill afford.

Information: MVD Director Ken Ortiz, (505) 827-2296.