Unalaska’s Division of Motor Vehicles office has been closed for more than two months, with no reopening date in sight.
The island’s former agent retired in June, and the local office of the state DMV has remained closed since Nov. 10, according to Acting City Manager Marjorie Veeder.
Veeder said it’s a complicated issue because the state can’t fill Unalaska’s staffing gap.
“Any agent they would send, if they could, would not be trained in the full scope of services that we cover in our DMV office here,” she said. “The state is also not willing to participate in the cost of bringing a private company out.”
Unalaska sits about 800 air miles from Anchorage, and a one-way ticket costs anywhere from about $700 to $1000. That makes it hard for locals to keep up on licensing and registration when they have no DMV office.
The island is also home to Alaska’s massive pollock industry, the largest fishery in the nation. The longshoremen who transport all that fish around often need to hold commercial driver’s licences.
Council Member Zac Schasteen said it can be a major hassle if workers can’t get those licences locally.
“It's a huge burden for people who need to update their CDL, or get a new CDL, or just simply renew their CDL, which can't be done online,” Schasteen said. “It's a significant burden, and it's a DMV being neglected by the city.”
The city council discussed various options for reinstating DMV services during a work session at a recent meeting. Veeder said the city could cross-train one of its own employees. But that would take time and several expensive trips to Anchorage.
“Cross-training an existing employee or bringing on a temporary hire isn't going to solve our present problem, due to that length of training,” she said.
The city could contract the services, but Veeder said the only private company available right now — Fairbanks-based Turbo Tags & Titles — would charge $172,000 for two months.
Schasteen said that, while he considers that a lot of money, he is more worried about the longer term problem.
“What's our contingency in the future?” he asked. “What are we going to do six months from now?”
The city council will hold a second reading and public hearing at its meeting on Jan. 27 to discuss DMV services in Unalaska and consider creating a budget amendment to fund a contract with Turbo Tags & Titles.
