A new driver’s license and vehicle registration office at Waimea Center should help alleviate long lines and waiting at the county’s Kona and Hilo offices, officials say.
The County Council is scheduled to approve a 10-year lease on Wednesday. If approved, the new facility will open July 1.
Base rent for the 2,190-square-foot office will start out at $2,732 monthly, escalating to $3,328.80 monthly by the end of the 10-year lease. The county will also be assessed 75 cents per square foot per month for common area charge, as well as general excise tax and 4.5 percent interest on up to $250,000 to refurbish the space for a driver’s license and vehicle registration office, under the terms of the lease with Puna Plantation of Hawaii.
Mayor Billy Kenoi’s current proposed budget adds two Vehicle Registration and Licensing Division clerks to supplement the driver’s license services at the police station, at a cost of $150,000.
“It’s been a goal for quite a while,” county Property Manager Hamana Ventura said Friday.
North Kona Councilwoman Karen Eoff said long lines have especially plagued the driver’s license and vehicle registration office at the West Hawaii Civic Center, especially at the end of the month. Eoff, the sponsor of Resolution 181, authorizing funds for the lease, said lines in Kona should be reduced by 20 percent once the Waimea office opens.
“It seems people wait to the end of the month. There have been long lines at both the driver’s license side and the vehicle registration side,” Eoff said. “We have people lined up every day.”
Eoff and Council Chairman Dru Kanuha, who represents Kona, have waived the resolution through the Finance Committee, so it faces its only action and final vote on Wednesday. The public can testify by registering by the 9 a.m. start of the meeting.
The meeting will be held at council chambers in Hilo, with videoconferencing available from the Kona and Waimea council offices, the county facility in Kohala, Hawaiian Ocean View Estates Community Center and the Pahoa neighborhood facility.