Prior Lake License Bureau among local DMVs fighting state on 'nightmare' MNLARS rollout

Prior Lake American

Everywhere you look in the Prior Lake License Bureau, there are posters that read: “Thank you for your patience as we transition to MNLARS, the new state-designed computer system.”

MNLARS, or the Minnesota Licensing and Registration System, rolled out last summer as an initiative of Driver and Vehicle Services to replace the old, statewide system from the 1980s.

Since then, Department of Motor Vehicle employees have fought back against the system, which they say does not work well, has doubled their workload and slashed their profits.

“The system doesn’t work as it should,” Prior Lake License Bureau owner Kellie Davison said. “You have to do three extra steps to get something done, just to try and make the system work. It’s a nightmare for training employees or retaining current employees. It’s so stressful and almost unteachable.”

The rollout

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety and Minnesota IT Services rolled out MNLARS in July 2017 to replace the 30-year-old system license bureaus were using to process vehicle title and registration transactions.

“The system has encountered technical complications since that time,” according to a press release from the state.

The state’s priorities are fixing bugs and glitches, filling gaps in functionality, empowering users, delivering faster title turnaround, modernizing business processes, improving customer service, stabilizing the system and improving user experience, according to the release — with high priority fixes done by the end of the summer and additional functionality in December 2019 and adding sources with full capability by 2021.

However, to fix the issues, the system will need an additional $43 million from the state, with $37 million going to make system improvements and enhancements and $6 million for the increased customer service work as a result of the original rollout.

“They’re just throwing money and people at a broken system,” Prior Lake License Bureau clerk Deana Schweitzer said.

The errors

The technological mistakes that bureau employees have noticed are numerous.

For instance, much of the information transferred over from the old system has errors such as a car someone had registered showing up as a different model.

“The old system, which is still operational ... is totally outdated and very expensive to maintain,” South St. Paul DMV manager Gaye Smith said. “Except the data integrity is so bad right now in MNLARS, that they are going to have to keep and maintain the old mainframe until they can get all these old records cleaned up.”

As another example, specialty plates are unable to be transferred to other vehicles at all, meaning those with custom plates who have to renew receive temporary permits every 60 days if they are unwilling to switch to a new plate number.

“Some people won’t do that because they like their number,” Davison said. “So, you have a Vietnam veteran who has had this number for 25 years. ... They’re riding around on free permits because there’s nothing we can do to transfer it to the new car they bought.”

Even Davison, the owner of a license bureau, is driving around with temporary permits because she likes the number on her custom plate and is unable to transfer it.

The system’s effect has been felt in other governmental departments as well — if there’s a chance that a car’s tabs are outdated to MNLARS or that the title transfer is not showing up yet, police officers are unable to enforce those laws, Prior Lake Police Department Lt. John Stanger said.

“We need to rely on that timeliness of everything in order to enforce the laws,” Stanger said. “Whenever we come across something we can’t be able to show is a definitive violation, we can’t do anything.”

Now, customers wait in line for hours, Davison said.

“We have customers in line for two hours or more,” Davison said. “It’s like now we’re living in New York, you’re going to have to take a whole day off of work to go to the DMV.”

Between the errors, workarounds and system speed, work that used to take one day now takes two to three, Davison said.

“They basically cut all of our incomes in half, as well as their own income,” Davison said. “Not only are the deputies losing, but the state of Minnesota is losing all this taxpayer money.”

The Legislature

When bureaus are unable to do a task due to MNLARS, employees are forced to send that work to the state for it to be processed, losing out on filing fees — a source of income for the bureaus.

Overall, bureaus statewide have lost $30 million over nearly a year’s time as a result, Davison said.

For bureaus owned by cities and counties, that money will likely come out of other taxpayer coffers in order to keep the bureau afloat. For privately-owned bureaus — such as Prior Lake’s — there’s a risk of going under.

“There are smaller offices in the rural areas that will not survive,” Schweitzer said. “Now, (customers) will not only have to wait in line but they have to drive to get somewhere to be able to go through that process.”

During the legislative session at the Capital, license bureau employees from across the state worked with legislators to introduce a bill that included $9 million to recoup some of the losses.

The bill was passed 95-34 by the House and 58-4 by the Senate. On May 30, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton vetoed the bill, citing that the bill would require changes to the MNLARS system without the funding to make the changes.

“Therefore, further mandating policy changes without any additional funds undermines the established stakeholder process and jeopardizes the completion of high priority items,” according to Dayton’s veto letter.

It’s not the end for bureau employees, Smith said.

“I’m going to fight this until the day I die,” Smith said.

Now, bureau employees are hoping there will be a special session in order to wrangle up some funding from the state, even if that means pouring more money into MNLARS, Schweitzer said.

“Give them the money for MNLARS, whatever they have to do to give us a system that works,” Schweitzer said. “And reimburse the deputies.”

Until there is some sort of solution, Davison said she will do her best to keep the license bureau in Prior Lake open.

“I’m going to make it, even if I have to sell my house,” Davison said. “I’ll do whatever it takes to keep my office open. My brother opened up my office when I was 15 years old. I went to school in Prior Lake, I graduated here and I’ve got a reputation to maintain. ... Our company has been there for almost 35 years now.”