The Oklahoma Tax Commission is searching for a new leader after Gov. Kevin Stitt assigned former Executive Director Jay Doyle to oversee technology solutions for a backlog in driver’s licenses and identification cards.
Doyle, who took over at the Tax Commission in September 2019, will move to the Office of Management and Enterprise Services. He will work with the state’s chief operating officer, Steve Harpe, to find ways to make Oklahoma’s disjointed systems for driver’s licenses work better.
Partly driven by the coronavirus pandemic, Oklahomans have faced long lines and lengthy delays for the past year at Department of Public Safety offices and many tag agents to renew driver’s licenses or get Real ID cards.
To address the backlog in the short term, the Legislature appropriated $6.6 million for “mega centers” in Oklahoma City and Tulsa that will offer extended hours and more employees to help customers.
The Oklahoma City mega center is scheduled to open Monday, July 26 at the former Oklahoma State Department of Health location at NE 10 and Stonewall, said DPS spokeswoman Sarah Stewart. It will be open for walk-in customers only from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday to Saturday. The mega center will have 20 workstations and will offer renewals and Real IDs for residents already with an Oklahoma driver’s license. Out-of-state transfers and first-time drivers will still need to go to DPS offices.
The Tulsa megacenter is scheduled to open on Aug. 16 at the Kensington Business Center at 7130 S. Lewis Ave. It will have the same hours as the Oklahoma City mega center.
“We are trying to keep it simple and not do the more complicated stuff. We hired temp employees to do the data entry part and we have DPS employees there to verify documents and do troubleshooting,” Stewart said. “We’re hopeful that having the mega centers will take the pressure off the DPS locations, so people who need to go to a DPS location will be able to get in now.”
The mega center employees have also received training to do online renewals during the downtimes at the centers. There’s currently about a two-month wait for Oklahomans who have renewed online, Stewart said.
“That should be getting drastically better in the near future,” she said.
For more than 90 years, Oklahoma has split licensing and other driver services among DPS offices and tag agents, whose appointments are approved by the Tax Commission. That blended model worked for decades but has come under pressure as more government services move online. The online system used by tag agents doesn’t completely line up with the one used by DPS. The long-delayed rollout of Real ID last year on a separate platform only exacerbated the technology problems.
Because of his leadership at the Tax Commission, Stitt and lawmakers asked Doyle to find a long-term solution to the license backlogs. Rep. Dell Kerbs, R-Shawnee, and Sen. Chuck Hall, R-Perry, have led the legislative efforts to address the backlog.
“We know Oklahomans are frustrated by these delays and I am too,” Stitt said in a news release Thursday. “We must fix the immediate issues with our driver’s license process and transform the system to better serve Oklahomans in the future. This is a complex task, and Jay Doyle is the right leader for this mission. I appreciate Senator Hall, Representative Kerbs and all our legislative partners for their work to solve this challenge.”
The Tax Commission does not have a timeline on naming a new executive director but started advertising the position last week. The three-person commission makes the appointment.
Bashaier Mahmoud, a local singer, is working as a driver’s license clerk at the Department of Public Safety’s temporary mega center in Oklahoma City. The center will open to the public on July 26 and a second mega center is scheduled to open in Tulsa next month. The centers aim to reduce the state’s backlog of frustrated residents and overwhelmed tag agencies following the introduction of the state’s new Real IDs. (Whitney Bryen/Oklahoma Watch) 
A driver’s license mega center will open in the former Department of Health tower in Oklahoma City on July 26 to help reduce the backlog of residents trying to renew their license. The center is currently open to state employees while clerks are being trained on the process. Kristin and Mark Birchell, who works for the health department, and Brenda Mangum, who also works at the health department, renewed their licenses on July 15. (Whitney Bryen/Oklahoma Watch) 
Driver’s license clerk Tyanne Williams counts down before taking a photo of a state employee at the Department of Public Safety’s Oklahoma City mega center on July 15. The center will open to the public on July 26 and is aimed at reducing the backlog of residents waiting to get their license renewed. Williams is a temporary employee brought on to staff the center. When she isn’t working at the center, Williams makes and sells jewelry and takes care of her 3-year-old son. (Whitney Bryen/Oklahoma Watch) 
Driver’s license clerk Kea Carson trains James Mason at the Department of Public Safety’s mega center on July 15. Mason is a temporary employee hired to help the agency address a backlog of requests from residents who need to renew their license or want the new Real ID. When he is not processing IDs, Mason is a music producer. (Whitney Bryen/Oklahoma Watch) 
Driver’s license clerks Tyanne Williams, left, and Heather Vassar, right, help two state employees register for their Real IDs. The clerks are temporary employees at the Department of Public Safety’s driver’s license mega center in Oklahoma City. The center is only open to state employees while clerks are being trained but will open to the public for driver’s license renewals on July 26. (Whitney Bryen/Oklahoma Watch) 
Krista Lower, right, an auditor trainer for the Department of Public Safety, teaches Bashaier Mahmoud how to register Oklahomans who applying for the state’s new Real ID driver’s license. The agency hired dozens of temporary employees like Mahmoud, who is a local singer, to staff driver’s license megacenters in Oklahoma City and Tulsa in order to address a backlog that has left many residents frustrated and tag agencies overwhelmed. (Whitney Bryen/Oklahoma Watch)
Paul Monies has been a reporter with Oklahoma Watch since 2017 and covers state agencies and public health. Contact him at (571) 319-3289 or pmonies@oklahomawatch.org. Follow him on Twitter @pmonies.
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