North Carolina is open for business. It’s one of the guiding principles of Governor Pat McCrory’s administration. And it’s part of the mandate given to the new Secretary of Transportation, Anthony Tata.
Secretary Tata, who says Wrightsville Beach is one of his regular surfing haunts, revealed some of his new customer service strategies this morning in Southport.
Why should someone have to take half a day off of work or skip school to get a driver’s license? Well, they shouldn’t – and soon they won’t have to -- according to Secretary Tata.
On March 2nd, the Division of Motor Vehicles will begin a gradual process of opening offices on Saturday mornings.
“And then we’ll do a monthly rollout of adding more and more offices until we’ve got – I think our standard is about 80 to 85 percent of the population within an hour’s drive of a Saturday office,” said Secretary Tata.
That process will run through the spring into the summer.
“For us, that’s about being more accessible, more retail-oriented, so that we can, in fact, serve the public that relies on us.”
Secretary Tata also says the DOT is re-prioritizing projects with an emphasis on economic growth. The number of jobs created by a project – both direct and secondarily – will be given greater weight under Tata’s administration.
