If you thought lines at the DMV were long before, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
Coming as a surprise to city officials, the state Department of Motor Vehicles on Oct. 29 announced the indefinite closure of the Santa Maria field office due to “insufficient staffing resources.”
According to DMV spokeswoman Jan Mendoza, the closure, which takes effect on Nov. 8, is a temporary fix until agency staffing issues are resolved.
“We have quite a few vacancies, and because we have a hiring freeze right now, we can’t fill those vacancies,” Mendoza said. “So we had to redirect staff and do some analysis to figure out the best way to go about it.”
Mendoza said the office’s 30 employees won’t lose their jobs, but will instead be transferred to other DMV field offices. As for when the hiring freeze might be lifted, she said, it would be up to the governor to decide.
Santa Maria’s field office, located at 523 S. McClelland St., opened in 1969 when the city’s population was 32,749, roughly a third of the current population.
According to city spokesman Mark van de Kamp, city officials didn’t receive any prior notice of the closure, though staffers worked for two years to find a suitable property for a larger office.
Assembly Bill 358, authored by then-Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee (R-San Luis Obispo), provided a two-year window between Jan. 1, 2008, and January 1, 2010, for the city and state to relocate the office. In 2008, according to van de Kamp, the city identified 16 potential sites for a new office and held field trips for the state’s Department of General Services and the DMV. Three sites were deemed suitable because they met all or most of the state’s criteria. As of January 2009, Van de Kamp said, the state informed city staffers that Santa Maria was high on the DMV’s priority list for new sites.
The provisions in AB 358 ended April 3, 2009,
and the state’s Department of Finance informed the city the project wouldn’t be funded due to financial constraints.
Santa Maria joined West Covina and Glendale as cities to have DMV field offices shut down on Nov. 8. DMV officials directed customers in the Santa Maria area to offices in Lompoc and San Luis Obispo, 24 and 30 miles away, respectively.
Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria) was quick to respond to the closure. In a letter to DMV Director Val Verde, dated Oct. 29, Maldonado urged Verde to reconsider. Maldonado voiced his concern about the negative impacts the closure would have on Santa Maria residents, including increased travel hours, worsened air quality conditions, and a diminished quality of life.
“I understand these are tough budgetary times and that every state agency and department has been required to bring services in line with revenue in order to maintain a level of fiscal integrity,” Maldonado wrote. “However, when such efforts result in a diminished representation for the citizens of California, it is incumbent upon us as leaders to consider more viable options.”
This article appears in Oct 28 – Nov 4, 2010.