Leaders of the embattled state system for driver's license and registrations say they need more staff to deal with the ongoing challenges.
On Tuesday, the commissioners of the state Information Technology Services and the Department of Public Safety updated lawmakers on the Minnesota Licensing and Registration System (MNLARS) project that was first rolled out in July 2017.
“Change at this scale is never easy. And as with all IT projects, it comes with bumps in the road,” said Commissioner of IT Services Johanna Clyborne.
Clyborne and DPS Commissioner Mona Dohman emphasized the relative progress within MNLARS during the last several months. But they also presented a case for future funding that would allow them to stabilize and increase their workforce.
“The reality is that DPS has limited staffing resources, which means that we are constantly shifting and moving resources around to meet the varying demands,” Dohman said.
According to other testimony Tuesday, the wait time for driver's licenses remains at about four months. But applications for vehicle titles and registrations have improved to a weeks-long time frame, officials said.
Meantime, Republican lawmakers pressed the state leaders on just how they would propose continuing to fund the program.
“I anticipate the MNLARS problem from a funding standpoint is going to be extremely difficult to the 2019 session,” said Republican Sen. Scott Newman.
On that point, the commissioners countered – saying while imperfect, MNLARS remains profitable.
“To say that it’s not working is not correct. It does have problems. But at the same time, it is producing revenue for our state,” Clyborne said.