LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The brakes have been put on speedy transactions at License Branches in Louisville, but Jefferson County Clerk Bobbie Holsclaw said blame Frankfort.
She said long waits and frustrating delays should be blamed on the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet's new system called KAVIS or the Kentucky Automated Vehicle Information System.
"My main concern of what's going on in the clerks office is that we are not able to serve our customers in a way that we're use to serving them," Holsclaw said. "Our branches are backed up. People are sitting close together and they're waiting forever to be waited on."
Jefferson County Clerk Bobbie Holsclaw at a license branch in Louisville, Ky. (WDRB Image) Jan. 24, 2024
The switch to KAVIS happened earlier this month, and it has caused transactions to hit a traffic jam.
Kentucky shutdown all registrations on Jan. 1, 2024, so it could make the transition. It caused a lot of roadblocks by disrupting decals, plates, disabled parking permits, registrations or transfers until mid-January.
"There's nothing we can do to make it any better but try to work with Frankfort and tell them the problems that we are having and hoping that they are going to fix it," Holsclaw said.
The former system, Avis, had been used by the state's motor vehicle administration for nearly 50 years. KYTC had been trying to switch to the new KAVIS system since 2001, but now that it has made the transition, wait times have been extended by 25 minutes.
Holsclaw said along with slow movement, Kavis is also impacting revenue at the branches.
"The money that has been coming into these offices has really slowed down, which not only means that we are going to struggle to make payroll, but it also means that small cities, metro government are not going to get the money that they get out of each one of those transactions," she explained.
Customers like Gaynell Coleman said she was on her second visit to the Clerk's Office this week.
"The first time I came last week, the computers went down. They didn't know how long. They said it was statewide, so I left and I'm trying to get them today," she said.
Holslaw said a slow roll out of the new system would have worked better rather than switching all 120 counties at once. She said branches in Highview and on Dixie Highway were hardest hit.
For now, Holsclaw has a message for Frankfort. "They need to find the answer, and they need to find it soon. This can't keep going on like this."
Her message for customers is to keep it simple. Online and phone renewals are encouraged.
For more information about the Jefferson County Clerk Office, click here.
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