Salem residents, including the current deputy registrar, urged city leaders to push back on the scheduled shuttering of the local Bureau of Motor Vehicles office in Tuesday’s council meeting.

“The license bureau has been there for 33 years. I walked in the day it opened it has always been a sustainable business, and there’s no reason to think that it cannot be sustained into the future,” said Deputy Registrar Robin Gray.

The office, one of only two in Columbiana County, is scheduled to be permanently closed June 30 when Gray retires. Its last day of operation is set for June 29, leaving Lisbon as the only office left in Columbiana County. The next closest bureaus are in Alliance and Boardman, which will present a substantial increase in the required travel distance not only for many Salem residents, but those of surrounding communities which take advantage of the Salem office.

According to Gray, the decision to close the office came directly from the bureau, as she intended to pass on operations to her office manager. Gray explained that while they were preparing to bid for the contract as is standard practice, the state told her they wouldn’t be putting out a request for proposals for the agency, citing declines in sales — declines which Gray disputed, noting multiple times that the bureau representative sent to review the office’s figures with them had been shocked.

“The bureau gave me numbers, and much to their surprise the numbers didn’t change from the year 2012 to the year 2023, so I’m not comfortable with the decision that they’ve made, I’m not agreeing with them,” said Gray. “From where I stand as a deputy, I am retiring June 29; that was the plan, my contract is up and what normally happens is they put an RFP out, a bid, you go in on the website for the bureau and you print out your paperwork which my office manager did, and our intention was to bid. Two days before the RFP came out, they called me to tell me that my agency was not up for bid, they were closing it. I was stunned, literally I was stunned, because we have been, and always, I think, would be a sustainable business.”

Gray also said that not only is the office consistently busy, it serves a large number of Mahoning County residents from surrounding communities as well, and that she felt the state’s explanation “did not make any sense,” and she would like a logical explanation and “an honest answer.”

Gray said that the bureau also cited an anticipated decline in demand caused by the ability to renew a driver’s license online, or purchase an eight-year license, and that the continued operation of the Salem office’s continued operation would draw business away from the Lisbon and Boardman offices, which could make them non-viable in the future.

However, Gray also argued against these rationales, noting that the bulk of customers were choosing not to purchase the eight-year license, and that many elderly customers did not want to or were unable to complete online renewals. Gray also argued it failed to account for the many other important services offered by the office which could not be done online like VIN inspections, notary services, and CDL self-certifications.

“The majority of people won’t take the eight year, they’ll only do four years, especially if you’re only 21, you’re going to get married, you’re going to have an address change, you’re not going to want to get a license for eight years. A lot of people don’t have the money, they don’t want to pay double, because it’s double and they don’t want to pay it, so those statistics are not nearly what they say they are. They might be throughout the state but they’re not in this geographical area or demographics, they don’t get our demographics here,” said Gray.

Gray also pointed out that closing the Salem office would massively increase the strain on the remaining offices, causing long wait times on top of the additional burden of travel.

“I’m not bad mouthing any other agency, I’m just saying, if you go to Boardman, you’re going to wait two hours. We have over 100,000 residents in Columbiana County, we will have one agency. It’s absurd to think that there’s not going to be a wait time,” said Gray.

Both Gray and resident John Tarlton emphasized the strain the removal of the Salem office would put on community members, with Gray noting that many of their customers are unable to or have difficulty driving and would not be able to reach another office.

“This is my business, I know my business, I know my numbers, I know my people, I know my customers. We have nursing homes that bring their clients to us three, four, five at a time. We’ve had customers come in and say ‘I can’t drive I have an ID, what am I going to do? How am I going to get from point a to point b where they’re telling me I have to now go?’ I just need your help. I am not benefiting from this in any way whatsoever, I’m retiring, but I think the community is going to suffer greatly because of this decision. It’s not just numbers, it’s people, it’s affecting the entire community,” said Gray.

“This decision, made by whomever will cause a huge inconvenience for many residents, both young and the older folks, all of us and will also cause the loss of six jobs, here in town, and I don’t think any of us want to see that happen,” said Tarlton.

Tarlton urged council to escalate the matter to the attention of county and state officials for their support in pushing back against the closure.

“I’m not trying to put you on the spot, but something has got to be done about this, and those of you that have the influence in the local political parties maybe it needs to start with you and jump up to the county officials, and up to the state to find out what’s going on. Every time I’ve been in that bureau they’re loaded with business,” said Tarlton

Councilman Ron Zellers asked if any of Ohio’s state representatives had been in contact about the matter, and Gray said that they had reached out to both state Rep. Monica Robb Blasdel and state Sen. Michael Rulli. Blasdel contacted the Department of Public Safety and was waiting for a response.

Mayor Cyndi Baronzzi Dickey asked if there was a specific person that may be able to help as contacting the bureau’s main line hadn’t been helpful thus far, and if agencies are back on the list for bidding out of turn once, they’ve been removed.

Gray said that Ohio Registrar of Motor Vehicle Charles Norman would likely be the best person to contact, and that in the past when Boardman’s Deputy Registrar retired a special contract had been issued out of turn.

City Council will meet next at 7 p.m. Feb. 6.