A steady stream of drivers with inspection and emission reports in hand take a number and a seat inside.
It's Wednesday morning. The pace is brisk.
Fridays are another matter. After accidentally recycling my online PIN number, I trudged to the DMV the Friday before Memorial Day and waited - and waited - for my three-digit number to be called. In another month, when Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s "Working 4 Utah" four-day state government workweek launches, such Friday runs to the DMV won't be possible.
Driver License offices will be closed. The Food Stamp counter will be closed. The Division of Motor Vehicles will be closed. The concealed weapon window at the Bureau of Criminal Investigation will be closed. Virtually every place Utah residents meet public services face to face will be closed.
The governor argues his 4/10 schedule is innovative, the wave of the future, the way American business is going. It will conserve energy and reduce greenhouse gases - saving employees money at the pump and taxpayers up to $3 million a year in the cost of lighting and cooling 1,000 state buildings. State managers insist extended hours the rest of the week - 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. in most places - and expanded online offerings will make up the difference. Canada and Kentucky and Oklahoma and Alabama are interested in following Utah's lead.
"I think we're onto something that long term is good for the state," Huntsman says.
But I wonder if this one-year pilot program is good for everyone in the state. Philosophically, the new schedule chafes a bit. State government is in the business of public service. And starting Aug. 4, access to public services will be constricted.
No doubt, many state employees will love their three-day weekends. Others who like the traditional five-day week and can't leave their kids at day-care or school for more than 10 hours each day will have to adjust. And so will all the rest of us - including an older generation that will never do business online.
The busiest days at the Driver License Division are summer Mondays and Fridays. In June alone, 50,400 licenses, driving privilege cards and state IDs were issued. The DMV processed 2 million car registrations between April 2007 and March 31 - 22 percent online, 14 percent by mail, 10 percent at inspection stations and 54 percent in person.
"I try to come here on a weekday," says one construction worker, stuffing his new registration in the glove box of his truck. "I would never come here on a Friday. Friday's always busier for everybody."
Not anymore. At state offices, the crowd will move to Thursday.
Huntsman isn't the first to come up with this idea. Provo has shifted to a shorter week but is in the middle of a six-month trial that keeps City Hall open with a skeleton crew to take park reservations and traffic ticket payments. Draper City allows employees to work four, 10-hour days. But managers stagger schedules so the city offices remain open Fridays. In 2000, West Valley City was the first Utah government to close on Fridays. Some offices were reopened after resident complaints. Residents can't pay for a business license, but they can schedule a building inspection on Fridays.
Despite the rare complaint, many residents continue to expect traditional hours of business. City Manager Wayne Pyle says he still hears people knocking on the front doors on Fridays. "As we have situations arise, we do respond to them," Pyle says.
State managers say they will monitor the transition from five days to four and make adjustments.
"We'll figure some things out as we go along," says Administrative Services Director Kim Hood. "We think once people get used to not having government services available on Friday, they will like the extended hours."
The measure of Utahns' flexibility and good will, Human Resources Director Jeff Herring acknowledges, will be the DMV. "That's the litmus test."
Rusty Tanteoli isn't optimistic. He went to the South Salt Lake office Wednesday to help his dad, Veaia, renew his registration.
"This could inconvenience a lot of people," Tanteoli says.
walsh@sltrib.com
