Sheriff withholding money from ITD

Nez Perce County Sheriff Joe Rodriguez is throwing down the gauntlet and withholding county tax dollars from paying for driver’s license services provided by the state that have been plagued by frequent delays.

The Idaho Transportation Department has had ongoing issues with implementing an updated software for driver’s license services that have experienced repeated and unexpected outages. Rodriguez said the county can’t assess how much to pay ITD for driver’s licensing since it is down so frequently, and he decided to put local tax dollars into a trust until ITD can sort out the issue.

“If I was not to stand against (ITD) for doing this to Nez Perce County, I am not sure who would,” Rodriguez said. “(ITD) paid an enormous amount of money for a program that is less than substandard. The taxpayers had no say on how their money was to be spent, but they are sure paying for what was done.”

The protest comes after numerous local residents have arrived at the sheriff’s office in North Lewiston to renew a driver’s license only to find the lights off and door locked because of an unannounced outage. When services are available, long lines and lengthy wait times are the norm. Rodriguez said the new program doesn’t allow employees to multitask and work on several renewals at a time, instead forcing them to help customers individually.

County Clerk-Auditor Patty Weeks said the county takes tax dollars it has collected each month and remits them to the state to pay for driver’s licensing. Weeks informed Rodriguez it was allowable to put the remittance in a trust and not to pay until ITD can solve issues with driver’s licensing.

“We can’t even balance it out,” Weeks said of the funds. “We don’t know how much to give them.”

ITD has blamed its contractor, Gemalto, an Amsterdam-based company, for the disruptive rollout of the $10.5-million project. Sporadic outages have occurred since 2016 when the vendor began its work. As a short-term solution, ITD allowed Department of Motor Vehicles offices across the state to use software other than Gemalto. ITD spokeswoman Jennifer Gonzalez said in an email the state agency is working with the Idaho Sheriff’s Association and the Governor’s Office to develop a long-term solution.

“Daily communications and updates provide coordinated information to multiple parties and has created a positive dialogue,” Gonzalez said. “That conversation will continue specific to the exploration of a permanent plan that alleviates service interruptions.”

Gonzalez said ITD is gathering all the input it can from the state’s sheriffs.

“Although the system has been stabilized, ITD has not heard directly from the Nez Perce County Sheriff,” she said. “Our path forward toward a permanent solution, will include input from sheriffs, including our partners in Nez Perce County.”

Rodriguez said he will continue to hold the money, which totaled about $15,000 as of Monday, until some of the major problems like cutting down wait times and improving the employee-user components of the system are fixed.

“I guess I’ll keep doing it until they flip the switch or I get in trouble,” Rodriguez said. “It’s the people living in the community that this is affecting. Their time is just as important as anyone else’s.”

Weeks said when the system is down the county still pays its employees despite the DMV shuttering its doors. Two weeks ago the office had to be shut down for four consecutive days because of issues with the vendor that affected services statewide.

Driver’s licensing will continue despite Rodriguez’s move, and officers have been informed to offer more warnings to motorists with expired licenses. ITD implemented an emergency extension of leniency to drivers with expired licenses, which lasts through Oct. 31.

“We need to make sure we have our reports balanced and make sure we are sending money where it needs to go,” Weeks said. “Otherwise we’re just guessing how much money to send to the state and we might not get it back.”

Holm may be contacted at tholm@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2275. Follow him on Twitter @TomHolm4.