Skagway’s DMV remains closed due to lack of staff

Skagway has been without a Division of Motor Vehicles office since mid-February. With few options for nearby service and with the summer cruise season scheduled to begin later this month, both residents and tour companies are struggling to get licensed before the season starts. Borough officials say the hiring process is nearly complete, but training could take months.

The Skagway DMV office, located inside the Public Safety building on State Street is typically a full-service facility. You can get a Real ID, vehicle titles, plates, registration, commercial services and more.

But the office has been closed since mid-February when the lone worker left to pursue a different career path. Skagway resident Deb Boettcher says she realized she needed a new driver’s license when she filled out her post office box renewal.

“I thought, oh my gosh, two days before my license expires. So I went right down to DMV, and found out that we don’t have a person here anymore,” said Boettcher.

If you’re at least 68 years old you’ll need an eye test before being issued a new or renewed license in Alaska. Without the DMV office, there’s no place in town to get one. 

“Can I go to the clinic and get it done? Nope. I was told I couldn’t,” said Boettcher.

She contemplated a trip to Haines, but she learned that would require an overnight stay. Then she considered Juneau, but with a round-trip flight that costs nearly $400, plus the cost of a cab to the optometrist, she would have to spend hundreds of dollars and an entire day.

Fortunately for Boettcher, a traveling optometrist came to town and performed her test. Unfortunately, the form they provided her wasn’t accepted by the state DMV website. That’s the fallback option for places without a DMV.

Jeremy Jansen helps manage Temsco Helicopters in Skagway. The company employs several bus drivers to get tourists from cruise ships to the main office to catch their flights. He says three of their employees needed to go to the DMV to complete paperwork for their commercial driver’s licenses. Without an option in Skagway this month, the company got creative.

“We had to use a helicopter to get our employees to Haines to use the DMV in Haines. Luckily, just we have the resources, as an aviation company, to have that option,” said Jansen.

He said registering for an appointment through the website was easy enough, but when he went to contact the office in Haines for more information, he couldn’t reach anyone by phone or email.

“It was difficult to get ahold of the local Haines DMV representatives ahead of time. But once we had somebody just go in they were extremely helpful,” said Jansen.

But many residents or businesses in Skagway don’t have people to help in Haines.

Skagway’s DMV works on a contract basis with the state. The position includes DMV duties and police clerk duties and is paid for by the municipality of Skagway. Police Chief JJ Reddick is part of the hiring committee. He says it takes time to fill a governmental position.

“I had five total applicants. So obviously I had to run it for at least two weeks. Then I started the background checks on the five people so that I could at least rule anybody out that wouldn’t pass a background check. And then I set up interviews,” said Reddick.

He says the virtual training process could take weeks or even months before the new representative is up to speed and the office is back to operating at full capacity.

In the meantime, the voicemail at the Skagway DMV office is turned off and no one will likely answer the phone. If people stop by they will be directed to the state website, or the Haines or Juneau offices. Reddick is encouraging people to call the state DMV to lodge complaints.

“As they get more phone calls, they’ll probably push more for trying to help get just that temporary person to come down, at least for a week, two weeks.” said Reddick.

The first cruise ship is scheduled to arrive in Skagway on April 26.