Satellite DMV Space: Progress or Just a Ploy?

By DARLA M. YOUNGS
OTSEGO COUNTY

On Wednesday, October 25, Otsego County clerk candidate Jennifer Basile (REP, CON) issued a press release announcing she had secured a shared space for Department of Motor Vehicle satellite services. She wrote in the release, “When I announced my candidacy for county clerk back in January, I made a promise to the great people of Otsego County to develop and implement a mobile DMV program. After a year in the making and dedicated efforts from myself and multiple department heads and county board members, I am so very proud and excited to announce Otsego County’s DMV Satellite Services!”

A photograph of Basile with a sign announcing the future home of these satellite services—in the Otsego County-owned building at 242 Main Street, Oneonta—reads, “Currently in process and pending budget approval and NYS DMV security approval.” The fact that state approval can take anywhere from six to 12 months is made clear in the disclaimer.

In interviews printed in “The Freeman’s Journal,” “Hometown Oneonta” and AllOtsego.com, both clerk candidates—Basile and opponent MacGuire Benton (DEM, CSE)—have discussed their desire to increase DMV services within the county to replace services lost when the Oneonta DMV office was closed in 2020.

“Reopening Oneonta DMV is not an option. That office no longer exists,” Basile said in a September 7 question-and-answer-style interview, with regard to her goals for office. “The best and only solution I have is the mobile DMV program.”

Benton, for whom the mobile DMV program has been a main talking point throughout his campaign, said in an interview printed the same week, “Creating a mobile DMV program to close rural service gaps…is my top priority.”

In a letter to the editor from Basile published on October 5, she wrote, “I have secured a shared office space in Oneonta from which to operate a mobile DMV program.” During interviews conducted in person on Saturday, October 14, both candidates spoke further about DMV services and Basile elaborated on the shared space referred to in her letter.

“[I am planning to set up] a satellite location, which is something I’ve been working hard on and I have already gotten approval with some of the other department heads to use a shared space to operate a satellite DMV office at 242 Main Street, Oneonta,” Basile explained. “I had my first budget talk Thursday, and it has a couple more rounds to go through budget. As long as [the county board] approves the budget, I can go ahead and start the process with the state. Then, of course, we have to have the state come out and approve the space and so on. The goal is to help as many customers as we can. Expenses would just be the state equipment. The bare minimum. No rent, because it’s a county building.”

Benton spoke that same day about his intention to reopen a DMV office in Oneonta: “I hope to partner with the City of Oneonta on their transit hub project. The city has a $6.5 million dollar federal DOT grant. I would like to lean on the city as they proceed with that transit hub project, hopefully for it to be built with the intention of housing a DMV in it.”

Fair or Foul?

Early voting began Saturday, October 28 and Election Day itself is just five days away from this paper’s publication date. Benton and his supporters are crying foul after Basile’s announcement, contending this is just a last-minute campaign ploy—that she has not gone through the proper channels to make such a claim, nor have costs associated with the satellite office been included in the county’s 2024 budget.

“It is a ploy. It’s a stunt. It’s a flip flop two weeks before the general election. My opponent has said on record that Oneonta DMV is not an option. The fact of the matter is these ‘satellite services’ have not received final 2024 budget approval. The New York State DMV has not given authorization to proceed. Absent those things, it’s premature at best to make an announcement like this and blatantly misleading at worst,” Benton said in an e-mail last week.

However, according to county officials, Basile has jumped through the appropriate hoops and her announcement was not unexpected.

“It should not have been a surprise,” said Dan Wilber, chair of the county Public Safety and Legal Affairs Committee, which provides oversight for the Otsego County Clerk’s Office but has no actual jurisdiction there.

The PSLA Committee heard Basile’s budget proposal for 2024—including satellite and mobile DMV services and a digital DMV billboard—at its meeting on Thursday, October 12. There did not appear to be any objections to plans presented by Basile, and the costs associated with the satellite DMV space is on the administrator’s tentative budget, Wilber said. He also explained that Basile has been consulting with himself and PSLA Committee member Edward Frazier throughout the process with regard to such things as security issues and equipment costs.

“You have spent months telling everyone Mrs. Basile is a bureaucrat and has no plan,” Wilber replied recently on Facebook in response to a post from Benton. “Fact is, she has had this plan for about a year.”

Basile is going through the proper channels, Wilber also wrote, further explaining in a telephone interview last Friday that she has negotiated use of the space herself with affected department heads.

“As far as her plan can be approved, it has been,” Wilber said.

In an e-mail last week, Basile further explained her efforts.

“I presented the proposal [and 2024 budget] at my October PSLA committee meeting and received verbal acknowledgment pending budget approval, which is very clear on the sign. I first began planning and talking with the state at the end of September 2022,” Basile wrote. “I created [the sign] and it was finalized with additional wording disclosure that was advised to be added from [PSLA] committee members. I printed it from home, as that’s where the file was stored.

“The satellite services is my mobile DMV program,” Basile continued. “I opted to call it satellite services because the mobile part was confusing people. They would hear mobile and think of a vehicle. It’s a mobile setup with completely portable equipment [that] can be easily transported to different locations. It is not limited to just one.”

Outgoing County Clerk Kathy Sinnott Gardner confirmed on Friday that the county board and its committees have no authority over the countywide elected officials, e.g. the sheriff, district attorney and county clerk.

“As for going to your parent committee, it’s just the process. And for me, I just always thought it was the polite thing to do. The board has one thing over the countywide elected—they hold your purse strings. If I need to spend money, I need to go to my parent committee. Once they approve my spending, then have a resolution done, that goes to the full board at the monthly meeting. Again, to clarify, the county board has no authority over the countywide elected, just control over their money.

It’s in the Budget

“Jennifer did, indeed, get approval from her parent committee to have a satellite office and had it added to the 2024 budget. A budget line was even created for the satellite office. It is, indeed, in the tentative budget for 2024,” Gardner said.

County Administrator Steven Wilson further confirmed this in an e-mail on Friday: “The county Clerk’s Office did propose equipment purchases for a “mobile DMV” for the 2024 budget. The proposal has not yet been adopted by the board. I expect final action on or around the end of November.”

Benton has also been taken to task by Wilber for comments indicating he would have a mobile DMV program up and running in 100 days if he is elected, contending this would not be possible.
“I said I’d get something up and running in 100 days in terms of mobile DMV,” Benton clarified. “The clerk has the authority to determine what exactly that looks like. My plan for the first 100 days is to deploy my deputy county clerk into towns to be available for questions, assistance with paperwork and navigating the process which, for some, is often very challenging. We will scale up from there with document processing, licenses and renewals, etc. There is no reason the administration shouldn’t be present in strategic places across Otsego County right away. I’ve committed to bring people-centric leadership to the county Clerk’s Office, and this assists in doing that.”

When asked how his campaign plans to rebound after Basile’s announcement, Benton remains self-assured.

“My opponent has an advantage in her current role. Voters need to ask themselves after 14 years in the department, three years with the Oneonta DMV closed on her watch, why this announcement came two weeks before the general election. I don’t need to rebound because I trust the voters of Otsego County to see through this. I have been consistent on Oneonta DMV the entire time I’ve been running to serve as our next county clerk,” Benton said.

Why Did It Close?

Let’s backtrack a little. According to Sinnott Gardner, there has always been a misconception regarding the closing of the Oneonta DMV.

“The county board laid off county workers due to COVID. I was told to lay off three DMV clerks. I was left with four DMV clerks…only enough employees to run one office,” Sinnott Gardner recalled. The decision was made to close the Oneonta office. The board [also] wanted to use the Oneonta DMV space for county departments that were, at that time, paying rent at other locations. The county was trying to save money.

“COVID forced the closure of the [Oneonta] DMV. It was the main reason,” Sinnott Gardner reiterated.

Otsego County Board of Representatives Chair David Bliss, in a phone call, confirmed that the closing of the Oneonta DMV was prompted primarily by COVID-19 but also as a result of county layoffs and personnel who retired. Bliss said he has every confidence the Oneonta satellite space will be approved and said plans have been underway for well over a year.

Board Representative Jill Basile said in an e-mail on Monday she was under the impression that the Oneonta DMV closed because the Cooperstown office was making more money. She said she did not know the satellite space was in the works.

“I do not sit on the PSLA Committee, but I do not recall this being discussed at our monthly board meetings,” Representative Basile wrote.

A Benefit Regardless

Moving forward, Wilber stands behind Basile’s satellite services plan—which he views as a restoration of services knocked out during the pandemic—and is confident it will be approved through the budget process and by the Board of Representatives, as use of the satellite space would benefit county residents regardless of who wins the election. Benton could not have implemented mobile DMV in 100 days or even in the first year, he contends, without Basile.

“If elected, Mr. Benton could not have done it [in 2024] if she didn’t put it into the budget,” Wilber said.

PSLA Committee member Clark Oliver confirmed in a telephone interview last Saturday that the Board of Representatives’ primary means of control over the Otsego County Clerk’s Office is budgetary.

“It’s one of those weird areas,” Oliver commented, saying the committee’s relationship with the Clerk’s Office differs from other departments in that the clerk has more unilateral control than typical county department heads.

Oliver said while he is happy that a satellite space has been secured and hopes DMV services in Oneonta are, indeed, restored, the timing of the announcement is “very convenient.”

Regarding whether she believes Deputy Clerk Basile’s public announcement was just an election stunt or was held until the deputy clerk had all her ducks in a row, Representative Basile wrote, “Hopefully it is a bit of both. I applaud anyone who is willing to do what it takes to serve the residents of Otsego County well, and that includes re-opening the Oneonta DMV, if that’s what the people want.

When asked if she thought Basile’s announcement was misleading or ill-timed, Sinnott Gardner was adamant.

“No, I do not think Jennifer’s announcement is misleading. She needed to go through all the proper procedures, secure the space, and get the approval and funding in place,” Sinnott Gardner said.
“It’s a shame that so much focus is on the DMV office,” Sinnott Gardner added. “The important office is the County Clerk office.”

Early voting is now underway through Sunday, November 5 at the Foothills Performing Arts and Civic Center, 24 Market Street, Oneonta and at the Meadows Office Complex, 140 County Highway 33, Cooperstown. Election Day is Tuesday, November 7. The complete October 14 interviews with Basile and Benton can be found at AllOtsego.com.