Missouri license bureau management has been an issue for my entire adult life. Jason Maki’s letter to the editor in The Landmark last week set off the most current firestorm. The inherent problem with them is that the process of awarding and managing them is deeply connected to exactly the way state government is operated, and as I’ve assured you many times, that is like watching bad sausage get made.
Anyway, if you want the complaints, slide on over to social media. I’m here with solutions, for once.
I moved to unincorporated Clay County two years ago. For nearly 30 years, our honey hole license bureau was in Savannah, near our home. Not great, but not terrible. Few different management teams over the years with varying degrees of efficiency. When we moved to Clay County, the wife and I decided we had to find a new bureau to call home. We tried Platte City. (See Maki letter)
We then both utilized the Plattsburg office for renewing our licenses and licensing a new-to-us car and renewing another license. Woah! It’s like a different world. They have a two-stage process. A person in the first area checks you in and goes over the paperwork you have for your transaction and makes sure you have everything you need. This happens almost immediately as you walk in the door. They then put you on a list to see the appropriate person and you can take a seat in a large waiting area, but knowing you already have the correct paperwork. In our three visits, none took longer than 15 minutes and not once did we get sent back for more paperwork. Not to jinx things, but they were also very pleasant.
Full disclosure. The Plattsburg license office is operated by Steve Tinnen who I have known most of my life, but never really talked license bureau operation. His family owned the local newspaper for decades and he knows almost anyone that has spent any time in Plattsburg. That being said, we never had any contact with him before or during our visits that would have “greased the wheel” in our favor.
Listen, it serves a small population base, but it proves that there are management efficiencies that could help the process in almost any license bureau and the least the state could do is ask or demand that the other operators adopt them.
I do not have a sponsorship deal with the Plattsburg license office, but I am tattoo free and at this stage in my life willing to sell some space, call my people. They can talk pricing.
Truth be told, I gave up going to license bureaus approximately 20 years ago for any service that did not require my appearance by law. I convinced my wife she was better at it than me, when honestly, I was simply scared of the rejection that often met my fate there. Wait an hour and then get told your personal property tax receipt wasn’t correct or some other malfeasance and then you’re back to square one. I just sent the wife and prayed and drank a little/lot.
As the crow flies, Plattsburg is as close to some of Platte County as Platte City, but I doubt many of you take flights. It’s a pretty drive, though.
They have a pretty neat museum, and my buddy owns a bar and restaurant in town. You could get licensed, grab a side of culture, and get a burger and a beer and that’s the most successful license bureau run you can hope for.
If none of that wet’s your whistle, get the bid documents and try to get your own license bureau the next time the state offers it out for bid because I doubt this debate gets settled anytime soon.
(Guy Speckman can be reached getting his paperwork ready for his next driver’s license renewal in 2028)