The Illinois Secretary of State's office responded Wednesday to erroneous claims made by elected officials regarding the upcoming closing of the Mt. Carmel DMV, at 219 W. Second Street.
The office made the decision to close the facility based on data and facts, which showed that keeping it open was not an efficient use of taxpayer dollars based on the low volume of transactions.
The DMV only processes a total of 15 driver’s license transactions a day, making it among the lowest in terms of transactions out of the state’s 122 DMVs.
Furthermore, four other DMVs are located within 20 miles of the Mount Carmel facility, one of the highest concentrated areas in the state in terms of the number of DMVs.
In addition, customers and staff regularly complained about the condition of the facility, which the landlord failed to address when negotiating terms for a new lease.
The Secretary of State’s office reached out to legislators informing them that it was having difficulty reaching an agreement with the landlord and asked for suggestions of alternative locations but none were provided.
The office eventually performed detailed surveys of alternative locations proposed by Mt. Carmel officials over the last year, but none of the properties came close to meeting the requirements from a service and property management perspective, making them poor uses of taxpayer money.
The DMV will close on Friday, November 14. Residents who utilize the Mount Carmel DMV can obtain services at nearby facilities, including Lawrenceville, Fairfield, Carmi and Olney.
The office will retain all the Mount Carmel facility’s five employees and redeploy them to nearby locations.