County, state plead for patience

A new Montana vehicle registration and licensing network designed, ultimately, to streamline the process is off to a bumpy start.

At the Flathead County Department of Motor Vehicles, people have been "camping out" for up to 90 minutes to get their paperwork processed. The statewide computer system has been up and down, causing unexpected delays and lapses in all 56 counties' ability to provide service.

"We're still not able to update personalized license plates," County Treasurer Adele Krantz said. "We have stack and stacks' of renewals.

"We're stumbling along," she said. "Thankfully the public has been patient with us. This has been awful for them."

All of the problems with the Montana Enhanced Registration and Licensing Information Network - the MERLIN project - prompted the Flathead County DMV to begin closing at 4:30 p.m. daily, starting Monday, to deal with the ongoing problems, Krantz said.

The early closures will continue "until the problems have been resolved at the state level," Krantz said. County budget cuts forced a freeze on overtime several months ago, adding to the strain of a department that could use more hours in the day right now.

"Other counties are experiencing the same thing," Krantz said. "Yellowstone County has a two-hour wait."

Acting state Motor Vehicle Division Administrator Brenda Nordlund had warned there would be a transition period.

"This is a very complex and substantive change in the way the Motor Vehicle Department operates," Nordlund said. "No transition of this magnitude is smooth or easy."

The state has put all available resources to troubleshoot problems, she said.

Krantz said that when county treasurers can't get immediate assistance from state officials, they're turning to one another and networking their way through the problems.

The registration and licensing system hasn't been updated for 22 years.

"They're not easy processes to change," Nordlund acknowledged.

Getting MERLIN up and running has been a long process. A start-up in 2007 was delayed because of technical difficulties, and there were four other scheduled "go live" dates before the switch occurred in mid-April, she said. Flathead County motor-vehicle employees have been training online extensively for the past eight months.

But curve balls have been coming left and right, Nordlund said. Earlier this week, for example, two counties couldn't operate because of a routing problem with their Internet service provider "that had nothing to do with MERLIN," she said.

On Wednesday, a problem statewide with printers shut down the entire system for a half-hour. Flathead County had some broken printers to replace.

"We're in a rocky phase right now," Nordlund admitted.

Both Nordlund and Krantz asked for continued patience from the public.

Eventually, the integrated system will tie all motor-vehicle and driver-licensing services to common customer accounts.

Starting last Friday, vehicle owners became able to complete their registration renewals online, another major change.

Montanans can renew their vehicle registration by entering either the title number, vehicle identification number or vehicle number. Instructions for the online system are at https://app.mt.gov/vrr/instruct.html.

Nordlund encouraged Montanans who need to renew vehicle registrations this month to use the online renewal option or mail in their renewals rather than showing up in person at county treasurer's offices.

One of the first things MERLIN did in 2007 was to establish temporary registration permits, giving car dealers the ability to interface on electronic records from point of sale, Nordlund said. Before that, law enforcement wasn't able to track vehicles until they were registered.

The MERLIN project initially was approved by the 2003 Legislature. A secure Montana Board of Investments Intercap loan will pay for the $28.5 million project.

There's still another phase to come that relates to driver licensing, Nordlund said.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com