Abbey Humbert

In January the Libertyville DMV is relocating to Lake Zurich.

The Libertyville Department of Motorized Vehicles has recently instituted new changes, including relocating to Lake Zurich along with distributing paper licenses as opposed to plastic.

A spokesman for the Secretary of State, Dan Druker, described in a phone interview that the DMV was seeking a location larger than the one in Libertyville. Lake Zurich approached them with a location in Deerpath Commons mall, which has a bigger space and double the amount of parking spots. This was exactly what they were looking for, Druker said. Logistically, the move spreads out the DMVs because Lake Zurich is more centrally located to the other existing facilities.

“[The Secretary of State office is] always looking to improve our customer service [and] how the public is treated when they go to the department of motor vehicles, our driver’s service facility. [The Secretary of State office] have been looking around a little bit to see if there was something frankly bigger than [the Libertyville DMV],” said Druker.

The Office of the Secretary of State has a newly signed lease and is expecting to move sometime in January 2017. They gave advanced notice to the people of Libertyville that they will be leaving the building in a few months.

One fact that has affected the Libertyville DMV is Illinois’s budget problems.

“The people of Libertyville have been very patient in terms of not getting paid, but [we] couldn’t control it because the state didn’t have any money. We don’t have a budget, there is a temporary budget now, so we’ve caught up with them in terms of paying them, but they obviously were very patient in terms of allowing us to stay open.” Druker explained.

This change is going to affect the Libertyville community as well as the surrounding areas. Some of the of people who consistently went to the Libertyville DMV are going to have to travel farther to Lake Zurich. On an average day at the Libertyville DMV, about 1,100 people use the facility. All of these people will have to relocate to using a new DMV facility.

The convenience for Libertyville residents of only driving to Peterson Road is gone. From the current Libertyville DMV to the new location at 951 S. Rand Rd., in Lake Zurich, it is roughly 15 miles away, adding on another 25 minutes to the commute.

“I think it’s going to be not as convenient for parents anymore. Now they’re going to have to run to Lake Zurich or Deerfield (where there’s another DMV facility). But for [the Driver’s Education Department], I don’t think [the Driver’s Education Department] are going to see any big changes. I order all [the paperwork] through the DMV or through the state, so they just mail it. I don’t deal that directly with the facility as much as I used to,” lead driver’s education teacher at LHS, Mr. Sean Matthews, explained.

The change of location isn’t the only new aspect being implemented by the Secretary of State’s office. No longer are the official driver’s license issued immediately to the driver. Instead, the driver will receive a temporary paper license until the real one comes in the mail, which is expected to come in 10-15 days.

The temporary license is valid for 45 days in case there is any issue regarding the legitimate license. The new program, called Central Issue, was put into place to prevent identity theft and fraud. The information is sent to Springfield and they use an electronic database to feed through their information.

Druker said Springfield makes sure someone isn’t trying to manipulate the system, like having multiple IDs, variations in the middle initial, or slightly different social security numbers. This will also be useful at airports because by showing this ID, the airport knows the background information has already been checked.

Mr. Matthews views the paper license background check as a positive thing that is safer for everyone.

These changes affect our very own Wildcat drivers. Katie Hay, a newly licensed sophomore, described her experience at the DMV in Libertyville as a positive experience that highlighted her birthday.

There was a damper on her excitement with this experience, however, when she received what looked to be an almost-fake, paper license. Hay and her father had doubts and confusion at first but accepted the new ways of distribution: “I feel like I’m carrying this around and it seems like a fake license.”

Hay said that there were no signs or warnings from the people that the DMV is closing. She doesn’t think that the move will directly affect her, seeing that she has already received her driver’s license and won’t need to make the trek to Lake Zurich any time soon.