Bragging on Sen. Mary Lazich

Blowing the dust off this place to share a story with any of you that might actually still read my ramblings about a recent experience with the DMV, and the action taken by my state senator, Mary Lazich, to make things right.

Yesterday (Monday), I went to get my most recently purchased car titled in my name and to have the plates transferred so they would track back to the car. Not trusting the DMV any farther than I can throw them (after having to deal with the aftermath of their ineptitude many times in the past), I decided it would be best to take care of all this in person, in spite of the $5 counter service fee. When my number was called, I went up to the window to conduct my business and get the car titled and registered. Now, here's where things get interesting. I live in the city of Franklin, but because of the way the USPS handles things, the mail goes through Milwaukee, and so when my address is standardized by their computers, it comes up as Milwaukee. As a result, when I went to the DMV's website to put in my change of address after moving, I tried putting in Franklin just to see what would happen, and the site kicked it back out, and would only accept my address when I put in Milwaukee as the city. No big deal, except that the city of Milwaukee charges a $20 wheel tax, which I have no intention of paying, as I don't owe it. All of that to say, on my title application, I put in my city as Milwaukee, but filled in the line on the form specifying that the car is kept in the city of Franklin (and therefore not subject to the wheel tax). The clerk at the counter called this into question, which would have been fine had he not been so rude about it, even after I tried to explain to him that if he put my application into his computer and put in Franklin for the city, it would be kicked back out. He didn't care about that, insisted that it had to be one or the other, and put the city in as Milwaukee without entering in the information about the car being kept in the city of Franklin, and accused me of trying to avoid paying the wheel tax. He was right about that, but he thought I was trying to do something illegal. Needless to say, seeing as he ultimately works for me, I wasn't pleased about the treatment I received. When I got home, I emailed the DMV as well as Mary Lazich's office to tell them about my experience. Fast forward to today (Tuesday). I got a call from the state Department of Transportation. Sen. Lazich (or someone from her office) got in touch with the DOT, told them what happened, and the DOT called to let me know that they had entered into their system that my car is in fact kept in Franklin, and therefore not subject to the wheel tax, which they tell me will not be added to my renewal next year.

Long story short, I'm still not pleased with the way I was treated by the DMV (although the DOT tells me that my complaint was forwarded to the supervisor at the office I went to), but I'm very pleased that Sen. Lazich's office took action on my behalf to make things right. She has definitely won my vote for re-election.