A new motor vehicle registration renewal kiosk is now at the Pine River Public Library.
Users need to have their vehicle renewal postcard or the license plate number to enter into the new machine. They can pay by credit card or check.
La Plata County is one of 10 counties in the state using the kiosks under a trial program offered by the Colorado Department of Revenue. The kiosks by International Technology, Inc. have been in use since the early 1990s, and Colorado is the eighth state to use them, said La Plata County Clerk Tiffany Parker.
The kiosks will be used in the trial program for three years. Users pay a $3 fee for the convenience per transaction, plus a small credit card fee or check fee.
The machine then produces the receipt and tags for a license plate.
Eventually, the machines might be upgraded to provide driver’s license renewals, but that is a ways down the road, Parker said.
The kiosks could be more popular in Front Range communities where waiting in line at busy offices can take two hours. The average wait at the Durango office for renewals or titles is 15 minutes, Parker said.
“We’re really excited to have it here,” said Shelley Walchak, director of the Pine River Public Library, where the new kiosk is located. Later this year, another kiosk will be placed at the county clerk’s office at 98 Everett St. in Bodo Industrial Park in Durango.
Walchak said the kiosk might be placed outside the library, sort of like a bank ATM, so it could provide 24-hour access.
The county clerk’s annex office in Bayfield, where many residents in the eastern side of the county renew their tags, is scheduled to close at the end of the year.
A petition to keep the office open has collected more than 1,000 signatures, said Phyllis Ludwig, who is organizing the effort.
She and other supporters will present the petition to La Plata County Commissioners during its meeting at 10 a.m. Sept. 26. Ludwig said she others will also take time to address the issue with commissioners.
Parker said she had applied to be part of the pilot program before the office closure was being discussed, in part to reduce lines at the Durango office. Her staff provides renewals for 98,000 vehicles a year in the county, and they are currently working at the staff levels they had in 1986. A position is being filled shortly but is being reduced from full-time to three-quarter time, she said.
To serve customers, the county also offers online vehicle registration, Parker added.
