Drivers license, vehicle registration offices moving to new building – Rexburg Standard Journal

REXBURG Madison County recently remodeled the former Payless Shoe Store to make room for a consolidated drivers license and vehicle registration office. The new facility is located at 510 N. 2nd E. Suite 1.

Its one stop shopping, quipped Madison County Sheriffs Public Information Officer Isaac Payne. It makes it more convenient.

Payne said that the former Payless fits perfectly into the countys plans for its offices.

It looks great. It has a nice lobby and a workstation for all of our employees. I dont think you will recognize it as the old building anymore, he said.

According to Madison County Assessor Shawn Boice, the county will pay around $2,700 a month or $32,000 a year to lease the building. It also helps that the former Payless has lots of parking spaces, he said.

Its a good deal because its below market rent, Boice said.

Boice has heard people ask why the county commissioners just didnt build a new office instead of leasing the Payless building. Doing so would have cost a chunk of change, he said.

Common sense tells me a lease payment is more effective for us to get into a building than to come up with millions of dollars, he said. It will be well over 20 years before (rent) hits $1 million.

Boice said workers started remodeling the building earlier this year at a cost of around $135,000.

The remodeling of the buildings exterior has been completed and all thats left to install are computers and fingerprint machines, Payne said.

Its been this last month that theyve been finishing up the inside construction, he said.

The commissioners had frequently heard residents complain about having to walk from one building to another to get their drivers license renewed and vehicles registered . It wasnt unusual to hear requests to consolidate the two offices, Payne said.

The county commissioners, county offices, and the sheriffs office came together and made it happen, he said.

Boice says that on a daily basis, people come into the vehicle registration office looking to get their drivers licenses renewed.

We send people across the street multiple times a day. Its more convenient to combine them (offices), he said.

The two offices have suffered from growing pains, Payne said.

The old drivers license office is in the same boat we are. We have outgrown our buildings. We dont have enough space as it is. This will give us a little bit of breathing room. We can expand out a little bit, he said.

Payne said the county had been in discussions about expanding for about a year, and says that county workers are looking forward to the move.

Im really excited about it. I know a lot of our employees are excited about it. They can better do their jobs. It will more easily help the community out, he said.

Its expected that the drivers license and vehicle registration offices will be open in the new building by June or July. For more information call 208-359-6200.

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Drivers license, vehicle registration offices moving to new building - Rexburg Standard Journal