2 Louisville motor vehicle branches to close next week as state tries to handle KAVIS backlog

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Jefferson County Clerk's Office plans to close two motor vehicle branches for two weeks.

The West Branch on Amy Avenue and the downtown Branch on South 5th Street will be closed starting July 8. They're scheduled to reopen on July 22.

Jefferson County Clerk Bobbie Holsclaw said in a news release Monday that the temporary closures are because of a significant backlog of work from dealerships stemming from glitches with KAVIS, the state's vehicle information systems.

"It was not a decision made lightly, but we feel this is the best way to handle the KAVIS catastrophe," Holsclaw said. "Our customers are used to a 24-48 hour turnaround on work, but now we’re seeing dealerships wait up to a month because there are so many problems with KAVIS. We cannot afford to pay employees to work late and on weekends, but the sheer volume of backlog has forced me to make this difficult decision. I am optimistic that we will come out of this closure better than we started."

The 30 employees from those two branches will help resolve the backlog during the closure. After the two-week closure, the downtown branch will reopen on limited hours — from 8:30 a.m. to noon — with employees continuing to handle the backlog in the afternoons.

"We're up to 6,000 pieces of work in our backlog, whereas, before, we could turn something over in 24-48 hours," said Ashley Tinius with the Jefferson County Clerk's Office. "We'll be able to get that caught up without paying overtime, which ... we couldn't do it."

The state launched KAVIS in January, and it's caused a slew of problems at local branches. Dealerships and drivers have had major delays with registrations and titles, something that now takes weeks and usually took 24-48 hours. And car-buyers are currently waiting up to a month to get their titles.

"We are very optimistic that this is going to get us caught up," Tinius said. "And, hopefully, we won't fall behind again."

To find the latest updates or look at the branch waiting room cameras, click here.

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