Sept 22, 2010
10-267
Five Portland area full-service offices will expand business hours on Mondays and Fridays
The limited-service DMV office at Clackamas Promenade will close permanently as its lease expires in November. The four staff members who work there will be reassigned to other Portland-area DMV offices.
The office will close permanently at 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 13, so that DMV can remove its equipment and other material before the lease expires Nov. 30.
With the reassigned staff from the Clackamas office, DMV will extend weekday hours at five Portland-area offices. As of Nov. 15, these offices will be open until 6 p.m. on Mondays and Fridays:
- Southeast Portland, 8710 SE Powell Blvd.
- Northeast Portland, 1836 NE 82nd Ave.
- North Portland, 8260 N Interstate Ave.
- Gladstone, 10 82nd Drive
- Gresham, 2222 E. Powell Blvd.
On Tuesday through Thursday, closing times at these five offices will remain at 5 p.m.
The staff reassigned from the Clackamas office will give these other Portland-area DMV offices the capacity to conduct more drive tests and knowledge tests. The Clackamas office does not conduct drive tests or knowledge tests.
"Because the Clackamas office can't provide the full range of DMV services, and there are three other DMV offices less than 10 miles from the mall, we thought there might be a more cost-effective way to provide services in the metro area," DMV Administrator Tom McClellan said.
The Gladstone office is 4.5 miles away; the Southeast Portland office is 5.1 miles away; and the Northeast Portland office is 8.5 miles away.
Since DMV launched limited-service offices, typically in shopping malls, in the 1980s, the ways customers do business with DMV have changed substantially:
- People can renew their vehicle registrations by mail, online or at DEQ stations in the areas that require emissions testing.
- Customers can file a change of address or notice of sale of their vehicle online at DMV.
- People also can download forms to do many other transactions by mail.
- Oregon Driver Licenses and ID Cards now are valid for eight years rather than four, cutting in half the frequency that customers must come to a DMV office for a new photo and new card.
- Tougher identification requirements that Oregon has implemented in the past few years have made some driver license and ID card renewals more complex and therefore more easily done at full-service offices.
- In these economic times, both businesses and government agencies are looking for ways to streamline services and become more efficient.
- DMV will save about $125,000 a year in rent, utilities and maintenance by closing the office.
"DMV is also considering whether to close its three remaining limited-service offices as their leases expire during the next several months," McClellan said. "We think that people served by these small offices can get better service from DMV’s full-service offices, especially with the reassignment of DMV staff to those nearby offices."
The remaining three limited-service offices are at Lloyd Center and Tanasbourne in the Portland area and at Valley River Center in Eugene. Three of the original seven limited-service offices were closed in 2000 because of significant budget reductions and the changes in how DMV delivers services.
"We will make decisions on the remaining three limited-service offices as each of their leases expires," McClellan said.
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