News

DMV chief responds to concerns over service

By CHUCK MCGRADY AND WAYNE GOODWIN , Published: February 19, 2024

On Jan. 7, the Hendersonville Lightning published an article that shared concerns by Henderson County Sheriff Lowell Griffin about the local DMV Driver License Office in Hendersonville. In our respective capacities, we would like to update your readers about that subject and what to expect going forward.

As former state legislators and long-time public officials, we believe in responsiveness and promptly getting to the bottom of any problem, including looping in interested stakeholders. Accordingly, we discussed the Hendersonville DMV office and coordinated a conference call on Jan. 11 with both Sheriff Griffin and Rebecca McCall, chair of the Henderson County Board of County Commissioners.
During that call, we listened to the sheriff and the board chair. McGrady highlighted the challenges DMV offices faced across the state during and since the pandemic and Commissioner Goodwin provided local statistics and identified customer-friendly changes that had been initiated during his two years in the role and other changes on the horizon.
Among the items contributing to the most recent lines at the Hendersonville DMV office:
• During and after the pandemic, DMV offices statewide lost several hundred frontline workers. Fewer employees led to longer lines and longer wait times. This includes Western North Carolina.
• Changes in the labor market and salaries not keeping up both with inflation and the private sector made it difficult to fill these positions.
• With North Carolina’s population growth, the state needs more employees for necessary in-person services.
• Not every citizen is aware that oftentimes they can obtain DMV services online via MyNCDMV.gov.
• Customers are not aware that people with pre-set appointments are seen in the morning and walk-in customers mostly in the afternoon.
• Another factor recently contributing to lines and wait times: Immediately prior to Sheriff Griffin’s public comments to the county commissioners, all state offices were closed for three days in a row during the week of Christmas, compacting five days of DMV business for the last week of the year into two weekdays. This was further complicated by the New Year’s Day closing on the following Monday.
Fortunately, positive changes have been made to help Hendersonville, Western North Carolina and the entire state, with a few caveats.
• Over the last two years, DMV has filled more than 250 vacant positions, including many in WNC, thanks to an intensive recruitment effort, compensation increases and hiring and retention bonuses. These new hires have had beneficial results for the region. As of Jan. 26, the Hendersonville DMV office now has seven full-time examiner positions with zero vacancies.
• However, the region, which includes Andrews, Asheville, Asheville Express, Brevard, Bryson City, Burnsville, Clyde, Forest City, Franklin, Hendersonville, Marion, Marshall, Morganton, Newland, Spruce Pine and Sylva, had 20 vacancies (six temporary full-time, 14 permanent full- time) out of 56 positions.
• To keep all offices in the region open, multiple WNC offices have had to share employees, which causes a domino effect impacting lines and wait times. While statewide there are now only 10% vacancies in full-time permanent positions -—a tremendous achievement in contrast with 2 years ago — the vacancy rate among temporary full-time positions is more than 70% statewide.
• Goodwin has shared with Board of Transportation leaders and legislative staff a solution: converting full-time temporary positions without benefits to permanent positions with full state benefits.
Additionally, during the last two years, DMV has increased the number of offices that open at 7 a.m. instead of 8 a.m. At least 45 offices now open an hour earlier. DMV plans to expand hours further in the year ahead — with the potential for after-5 p.m. hours in certain locations. Expanding the number of offices that open on Saturdays, both to more locations and beyond the summer “peak” season, is on the docket for 2024.
Along with increasing staffing levels and service hours, DMV customers are now able to obtain more than 22 services online through MyNCDMV.gov. In fact, did you know that in most circumstances, folks only need to show up in-person once every 16 years (once every 10 years if over age 66)?
And finally, future service improvements include the launch of self-service kiosks in select grocery stores in 2024 and the eventual introduction of portable DMV units in 2025.
To meet the challenges outlined above, it is imperative we have all leaders working together — like we have here — to ensure access to the best DMV customer service and DMV services possible. We greatly appreciate the concerns and the leadership of Sheriff Griffin and County Commissioner McCall on this issue.
When we all work together, we will meet every challenge and find solutions to ensure citizens of Henderson County and WNC have access to the vital DMV services they need.

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Chuck McGrady resides in Hendersonville and is an at-large member of the NC Board of Transportation. He previously served both as a county commissioner and legislator. Wayne Goodwin, a native of Hamlet, N.C., is the current NC DMV Commissioner and both a former legislator and former NC Insurance Commissioner. As part of his response to concerns raised in Henderson County, Commissioner Goodwin is visiting WNC three days this week. He was scheduled to meet Wednesday with Sheriff Griffin, McGrady, county commissioners, local officials and DMV customers. He also planned to stop by the mid-month meeting of the Board of Commissioners Wednesday morning.