LIHUE — A little after 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, the line at the county Finance Department’s Motor Vehicle Registration was long — and getting longer by the minute.
Kapaa resident Mapuana Hoopii, who was second in line to get coupons for the landfill, said she’d been waiting for about 10 minutes.
“It’s not bad today,” she said, adding there have been times where she’s had to wait much longer.
“Something needs to be done. A lot of times the line is so long,” Hoopii said. “Maybe people that’s paying, because they pay for different things, so maybe if you’re just paying for a car registration or something you can go to a shorter line.”
Prompted by public complaints, Kauai County Councilmember Arryl Kaneshiro invited the director of finance to discuss the issue during Wednesday’s committee meeting.
“We’ve been receiving calls and concerns regarding the wait time,” he said.
In December, 40,630 customers were assisted, 50,664 in January and 44,628 in February. Staff did this while facing staffing changes due to retirements, transfers and medical leave. The department also upgraded its cashiering system.
“The new system is fractionally slower than the previous version. There is some latency with connectivity to the state system,” said Ken Shimonishi, director of finance.
Though the new system is only slightly slower than the old system, it does add to the wait time, he said.
In order to address the issue, the administration added two, 89-day contract employees and are in the process of adding a permanent full-time title technician. Additionally, it will be installing two self-service kiosks and an online registration computer in the lobby.
On the last day of each month, staff works overtime to make sure everyone in line can renew their registrations without facing penalties.
Council Chair Mel Rapozo suggested adding a kiosk in Kapaa, while Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura suggested adding a kiosk in other parts of the island as well.
“When we keep talking about traffic and driving to Lihue, a lot of people don’t want to do it online, so they’re going to drive into Lihue and add to the line,” Rapozo said.
As for car dealerships, they are encouraging fleet registrations and have limited the amount of transactions at the desk.
“Currently we revised the policy that dealers in line are limited to five transactions if there’s no line, “ Shimonishi said. “If there is a line, we limit that to two.”
Car dealers are also not permitted to stand in line after 3 p.m. About one-third of the transactions are from car rentals and dealerships. Because the number of these types of transactions are so high, Rapozo suggested charging dealers an extra fee in order to pay for a position that would work directly with them.
“This is just a suggestion, a thought, if we put a surcharge on those guys, a buck can generate $15,000 a month. I was in line once and it was a long line up there for the entire length of my stay there,” Rapozo said.
Kaneshiro suggested finding ways for dealerships and rental companies to complete transactions online.
”Obviously they have a huge bulk of the vehicles that are getting registered, so if there’s any way that you can delineate that from holding up the line or holding up the process, that would probably be best,” he said.
Clerks also accept payments for other services such as landfill and sewer fees. Vice Chair Ross Kagawa suggested moving the collection of those fees to Public Works.
“One stop sounds good, but if one stop is overwhelmed, perhaps opening other stops is the solution,” he said.
Bret Ashley Tharp of Kapaa, was reading a book as she waited to transfer a title because she just sold her car. She said wait didn’t bother her too much.
She wasn’t sure what the county should do to remedy the problem.
“Maybe people should come prepared like me,” she said. “Patience, it’s a learning lesson. I’m not bothered by it personally.”
Driving in from then North Shore, Kilauea resident Jesse Broward said no matter where he lives, he expects a long line at the DMV.
“I feel like I lived in Washington state, it was the same thing there, kinda almost just expect it. I was frustrated when I was younger and first came in here kinda. Now you’ve just got to wait,” he said.
If the county fixed the issue, he said he’d be happy about it, but really, it’s just one of those things that needs to be done once every couple of years.
“Growing up here, you don’t mind waiting,” Broward said.
