County
State DMV Fails At Computer Upgrade
May 1, 2009 
The GUARDIAN has it on good authority the Idaho Transportation Department has spent about $2 million in a failed attempt to modernize its computer system.
A bill passed by the Idaho Senate Friday will allow for “user fees” to fund an upgrade to the motor vehicle licensing system. The GUARDIAN was told “holes in the system” were part of the reason more than $300,000 was allegedly embezzled at the Canyon County assessor’s office. IDT contracts with local county assessors to sell license plates.
At issue was a decision to pour at least $2 million into an “over the counter” info technology system. After many months of trying to make it work with an outfit called SABER as well as IBM, the plug was pulled by the ITD this week. They are back to square one and will use the additional fees to try again.
UPDATE:
The GUARDIAN got this note from the IDT soon after the above was posted.
I can’t say I understand the ethics or standards on posting information to blogs.
With journalists, they confirm information before it is published.There is nothing correct about your post. It is filled with inaccuracies.
I request that you pull it.
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Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
May 1, 2009, 8:26 pm
I can’t remember when the Guardian posted an article without verifying
sources. So, publish this ITD jerk’s name and let’s see whose briefcase his butt winds up in. Until we do a little bureaucratic house cleaning, we will never be able to fix this state! We can complain about the elected offices till the cows come home, but it is the bureaucracy that is wasting all the money. The legislature just gives them more to waste.
May 1, 2009, 9:45 pm
Pretty easy to find out if this story is valid or not…Ask the Senate Transportation Committee Chair if it is true.
May 1, 2009, 10:08 pm
Well if the article is “full of inaccuracies” let’s hear them!
The Guardian has been always good in providing real evidence, and I’m sure Dave would have absolutely no problem correcting and apologizing for any published errors. That is if there actually are any “inaccuracies”.
May 2, 2009, 6:11 am
Cyclops kinda like Butch’s gas tax.
Just more to waste.
May 2, 2009, 8:30 am
I agree Robert!
May 2, 2009, 9:27 am
I had traded in my 03 pick up for an 07 pick up and needed to change the plates over. The tax to do this was well under twenty dollars. And I had to go to the DMV in person to do this during normal business hours. Which means I had to stop doing productive work to waste time in a government situation that is flat out stupid.
I clearly remember the day was a Tuesday and the day before was a Monday that was a government holiday. At the DMV the woman that work there (note there is not one man to be seen that works there) The girls all had their little talking parties. They take personal calls on the DMV and let people who they seemingly know cut in line without taking a number. They get together in groups by the office door and giggle and have a great time as the whole joint is full.
I had just had an operation on my foot and had a half cast on. There were no chairs so I sat in a testing chair at the very end. There we no one taking a test, computer or written. One of the big mouth gigglers and party girls told me I could not sit in that chair. I asked her to look at my foot with the cast and said I can’t stand on it for unlimited amounts of time and need to sit down. I ask her if there was a chair she could bring me. She said there was no chair for her to bring me and that I had to get out of that chair I was in. I told her to get her supervisor and I explained it to the supervisor and she backed up the other DMV parasite. It so happens an older woman saw this and offered me her seat because she was next to be called.
This is our government, a government that has zero respect to the citizens and its not much of a wonder that they can blow $2,000,000 down the drain. I’m sure they think that there’s more money where that came from if they come up with the right scam to steal it from the citizens.
May 2, 2009, 8:06 pm
Here is a classic story of your gov. wasting your money. The Dept. of Commerce used to be only agency using Mac computers exclusively. Kempthorne merged Commerce and Dept. of Labor. Labor has hundreds of employees, Comm. has somewhere around 50. Labor uses PC’s and at the time of this merger, reportedly had about 50 people in tech support positions! Commerce had one guy – sorta like the Maytag repairman. Roger Madsen (Director of Labor who now had control of two agencies) ordered Commerce to switch to PC’s. Naturally, problems began to cause frequent crashes but instead of being able to call that Maytag guy, Comm. employees now had to turn in a “ticket” requesting one of the 50 tech support people at the Dept. of Labor to fix their problem! Would’ve made a lot more sense to have Labor switch to Macs and get rid of about 45 tech people. But thats not the “government way.” 🙂
May 3, 2009, 9:42 am
Nothing to see here folks, move along please.
May 7, 2009, 12:53 pm
Yo Chet, I totally agree with you. It would be interesting if the Guardian or someone would look into the insane amount of tax money the State pays for Microsoft licensing. The State is obligated by these contracts to constantly upgrade MS operating systems thus requiring new more powerful computers to handle the software. The new software comes with new contracts. Makes you wonder how much money our politicians get from MS for their campaigns.
May 8, 2009, 2:51 am
As for the ITD guy, Shakespeare said: Methinks he doth protest too much.
If his or her complaint was legit, it would have been pretty simple for him or her to say No we haven’t spent that much; or No we’re not upgrading, or whatever. But, with no explanation, it would seen there is no basis for the complaint. Perhaps it was a CYA attempt of some (lame) sort.
As for the PC vs. Mac discussion: Many of my friends and former co-workers have PCs. Often I don’t hear from them for weeks at a time, then finally get a msg to the effect: Sorry haven’t responded to your e-mails; my computer’s been down … or crashed … or died … etc.
I respond: You got a PC?
They respond Yes.
I reply: Oughta get a Mac.
They respond: Mac? I wouldn’t have one of those.
I get snide: Yeah, cuz then you’d miss all the fun of having your machine crash frequently, eat your work, destroy some programs, etc. How dull life would be.
(Nope, I’m not a Mac salesman; just been using them for 10 to 13 years, and never had one quit for more than a few seconds. Maybe two or three times had to restart it, but then was right back in business.)
Friends don’t let friends use PCs!