The commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles is making several changes he said are aimed at improving services at the state agency.
Commissioner Michael R. Bzdyra said the changes that go into effect on May 16 will not require additional personnel or increases to the budget.
Bzdyra is appointing a chief operating officer to increase accountability across the agency and a division chief to help reduce waiting times for people calling in for customer service. He is creating a project management center of excellence and an agency training and management reporting division, as well as making other administrative changes.
The DMV has been plagued with ongoing issues after major work on the computer system that affected registration and caused delays at its offices.
Bzdyra said in a statement that the reasons for the most recent changes extend beyond just the recent technology problems and focus on improving DMV’s services overall and reviewing operations for efficiency.
“After becoming the Commissioner, I have decided that long-overdue changes are needed now and they would come even without our technology problems seen in the last few months,” Bzdyra said in a statement. “We are making organizational changes to make the customer experience with us much, much better than it has been. It’s time for a fresh look at changing old ways of doing things at DMV.”
Bzdyra has created a chief operating officer position to coordinate activities of several divisions to place a strong focus on customers’ needs and responsiveness to issues that create difficulties in doing business with DMV.
Local
He is appointing division chief Jim Rio, who he said brings several years of state and local government administrative experience to the job.
Division Chief Ken Nappi will oversee consolidating all incoming customer phone lines into a single, streamlined and efficient service operation.
Bzdyra is also creating a new unit called the Center of Excellence, to be led by Lynn Blackwell, DMV Division Chief. The goal is to bring more accountability and strengthen the discipline, processes and oversight of projects that have significant impacts to customers, including the registration system modernization project launched last August.
The Agency Training and Management Reporting, which will report to the Chief Operating Officer, is meant to improve training that enhances delivery of customer services.
“With these and other changes, we are determined to make this a strong customer-centric organization. And we’re going to do what it takes,” Bzdyra said.
