The new MNLARS (Minnesota Licensing and Registration System) has been riddled with problems, despite nearly 10 years of preparation and $100 million in expenses. Many deputy registrars have had difficulty processing applications and Minnesotans have been unable to obtain car titles and tabs in a timely manner. According to Kurt Reicks, Deputy Registrar for the DMV in Fillmore County, “It’s been a nightmare!”
MNLARS replaced the old system on July 24, 2017. The old system was shut down on Friday and the new one up on Monday. “Before it went public, we had only one day of training,” Reicks said. “It covered simple transactions and was pretty informal. They didn’t pilot the system before launching it to the public, and as a result, it has a lot of issues. It’s been extremely frustrating for us and for our customers.”
Reicks has been deputy registrar for the DMV/Auto Licensing Bureau, 201 Fillmore St. W. in Preston for almost 29 years and he has never seen anything like this before. “The old system wasn’t broken, but because it was 20 years old, they said it needed to be replaced. It was supposed to be a customer-based system, but there’s so many glitches, that it just causes more delays and a lot of unhappy Minnesotans.”
According to Reicks, special license plates, i.e., disabled, personalized, veterans, etc. are among the biggest challenges. “It’s hard to describe, but what should be an easy process, just isn’t with this new system.”
Reicks said that obtaining new vehicle titles and getting registration tabs are problems too. “There are nearly 200,000 title transactions that are not getting processed in St. Paul because of the new system. I urge people not to mail their tabs to the state, because they’ll cash your check and may not mail the tabs. Shop local is all I can say. Visit our office and we’ll try to get what you need in a timely manner.”
The Dayton administration said they had no idea MNLARS was having problems. Yet a recent KMSP-TV investigative report found that three years ago a MNLARS analyst told the Governor’s Office directly that the program was not ready for launch, and warning signs of program failure were repeatedly ignored.
Recently, state government officials told lawmakers that another $43 million was needed in order to keep it operational. According to State Representative Greg Davids (R-Preston) he’s not sure that money will fix it. “The administration owns this debacle,” Davids said. “They knew it wasn’t going to work three years ago. Now they want us to throw more money at the problem and can’t even assure us that will fix it.”
Lawmakers have introduced legislation that would allow the governor to reduce spending within his administration by $10 million in order to make the needed MNLARS down payment for additional money. Another bill is also being introduced that directs the Commissioner of Public Safety to study the feasibility of using a commercial vendor to “develop, deploy, and maintain” a system to replace MNLARS.
“What we’ve done to deputy registrars and the people of Minnesota is unconscionable,” Representative Davids said. “We need a bill to reimburse our local deputy registrars for their added expenses due to the state’s incompetence.”
Reicks concluded by saying, “We never had lines in our office before and now we can have 15 customers waiting. We had to hire another employee in order to keep up. It’s a good thing that people are understanding and patient. We appreciate that!”
Reicks is encouraged that Minnesota is in the process of piloting a driver’s license system before it goes public. “Maybe they learned a lesson with MNLARS,” he said.