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Routt County motor vehicle office moves within the courthouse for remodeling

Tom Ross
The motor vehicle office operated by the Routt County Clerk will move to a temporary location in the courthouse April 7 while the permanent office is remodeled.
file photo

— Routt County residents destined to visit the Department of Motor Vehicles office in the courthouse in the next month or so to obtain title to a new car or pay their annual registration fee might want to plan on spending a little extra time in the office.

According to County Clerk Kim Bonner, beginning April 7, the MV office will operate from a temporary location down the hall while the office is remodeled. During the interim, the office will have three customer stations instead of the usual four (when the remodel is complete, the office will have five stations).

The MV office in the courthouse is not the office where drivers obtain or renew their driver’s licenses. That office is located at 425 Anglers Drive in Fish Creek at Sundance.



“Since this office is much smaller and will encompass several offices, we encourage the public to use the mail renewal option or renew (vehicle registration) online,” instead of waiting until the last minute and paying in person, Bonner said.

County Facilities Director Tim Winter said the courthouse remodel is expected to take four to five weeks. The temporary office will be located across the hall from the treasurer’s office on the main floor of the courthouse at 522 Lincoln Ave., Bonner said.



Another reason to plan ahead to visit the MV office is that, in late April, the treasurer’s office is busy with people up against the April 30 deadline for paying their entire property tax bill, making that end of the corridor busier than usual.

Though four local building contractors showed interest in the remodeling job, Winter said, they ultimately declined to bid, perhaps because the job is on a tight schedule. For that reason, Winter will act as his own general contractor and bring in subcontractors to do the work.

County IT Director Jason Deckler’s staff, along with the building and plant staff, will assist state MV personnel in moving the state’s computers to the temporary offices the night of April 6 and return the following morning to ensure the equipment is up and running, Bonner said.

Winter said the remodel of the motor vehicle office is part of a larger project that will upgrade heating and air conditioning in both the MV and treasurer’s offices for a combined cost of $120,000, with about half of the total attributable to the heating/air conditioning upgrades.

Several other county offices are also in the midst of relocating. Emergency Management has already moved to the former coroner’s location in the county annex building. Coroner Rob Ryg moved to the third floor of the original courthouse, where Bonner’s staff has maintained an election data center.

The election center will be moved to the temporary MV location after the remodel is complete.

To reach Tom Ross, call 970-871-4205, email tross@SteamboatToday.com or follow him on Twitter @ThomasSRoss1


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