In the aura of COVID-19, many
decisions as to how to conduct business have been made on the fly. The Wright
County License Bureau found itself in that position last week with the Minnesota
fishing opener coming Saturday (May 9) and decided to take a proactive approach
in the COVID-19 reactive world.
License Bureau Supervisor
Becky Aanerud said she and her staff have been trying to come up with
innovative solutions to meeting the demands of the office at a time when public
counters are closed. One such idea was tried last Friday (May 8) – take license
tab requests for boats, trailers, campers and vehicles and distribute them with
curbside service.
“I was approached by one of
our employees to try it,” Aanerud said. “She explained her idea and my thought
was, ‘Why not?’ Our approach throughout this has been to think outside the box
and be open to new ideas. We did it. I’m happy we did and I’m hearing back very
positive things.”
The initiative had residents
fill out the appropriate forms and drop them in the drop boxes at the front
door of the Government Center or outside the License Bureau office. Those that
were collected prior to noon May 8 were distributed between 2 and 3:30 p.m.
Drivers were able to pull into the front parking lot and, while maintaining
social distancing, were able to have their tabs delivered to their vehicles.
Aanerud said she had no idea
how many people would utilize this unique service and was pleasantly surprised
by the response.
“I think it went really,
really well,” Aanerud said. “We had about 50 transactions and all but one got
picked up. They were thrilled to get their tabs because they needed them right
away and this was a way of doing that in the situation we find ourselves in
right now.”
The initial test run was done
because of increased requests for service due the opening of fishing season,
which annually brings in more people to the License Bureau to get tabs for their
boats and trailers before heading off to Minnesota lakes. Last week’s pilot
project was so successful Aanerud said her office will be doing it again this
Friday (May 15). Requests can be dropped off or mailed at any time, but they
will need to be received by noon Friday. If mailed in, people are asked to put
a notation on the envelope or on a Post-It note inside the envelope instructing
staff to hold the tabs for Friday pickup. As with last week, License Bureau
staff will be in the front parking lot of the Government Center from 2 p.m. to
3:30 p.m. to welcome vehicles to fulfill the requests. Drivers will be required
to show identification to complete the transactions.
Aanerud didn’t know what to
expect in the way of turnout because the drive-through option had never been
tried before. But, she came away from it extremely pleased with the results
“I didn’t how it would be
received,” Aanerud said. “It’s something new and you never know what you’re
going to get until you try it. People were very thankful. They didn’t have to
wait for the mail and wonder where it was. Most of the transactions were done
in a minute or two and they went on their way. I think it went over well
because of that.”
While many boaters and
anglers that were heading to Minnesota lakes for the fishing opener were able
to secure their tabs, Aanerud expects more to be requiring tabs for boats,
trailers and campers for the Memorial Day Weekend, which is less than two weeks
away. She intends to have a similar option available to residents and hopes it
gets used to the same extent it was May 8.
“We’ll see how this week goes
because this isn’t traditionally a big weekend like the fishing opener is,”
Aanerud said. “If it continues, then we’ll continue to do it. With Memorial Day
Weekend just a couple of weeks away, that could be another big weekend that
people are going to need the tabs for boats and trailers and campers that they
haven’t done yet. Given the response we had, my guess right now is that we will
do this again prior to Memorial Day weekend.”