County to continue issuing driver’s licenses

A driver’s license station will advance its success at the Jasper County Courthouse following the continuation of a 28E agreement with the Iowa Department of Transportation and the county.

“It allows us to be partners on the driver’s license station,” Jasper County Treasurer Doug Bishop said. “We do this periodically. Basically, it is saying that we will protect the data, equipment, private information and all that is entailed in that.”

The Jasper County Board of Supervisors approved the agreement on Tuesday at its regular meeting.

Bishop said the department has been very successful, shown by recording the lowest number of incidents in the state of Iowa. He said not only is the department one of the highest performing, as far as putting out a large volume of cards, when the cards go out they are right and done properly the first time.

“Warren Braun, driver’s license deputy, is the number two card issuer in the state of Iowa and Heather Preston is not too far behind,” Bishop said. “On top of that Warren did around 300 car drives and 160 motorcycle tests, none of the other issuers in the state of Iowa have done that. As far as getting bang for the buck with the employees in the office, they work really hard, are very efficient, know what they are doing and do it right the first time.”

The IDOT has even taken notice of the work done in Jasper County and has brought other supervisors to the county to watch Braun and Preston as they go through the process. The IDOT supervisors were overly complimentary on how things are done, Bishop said.

“We are very proud of them,” Bishop said.

The county has also been opening the department on Saturdays and has found the practice worth the time and effort.

“It works out very well for us to be open some Saturdays,” Bishop said. “The last Saturday we worked we had 34 transactions. For three hours of work, that is a lot of parents who don’t have to take a day off work to get their kid’s permits. A lot of men and women that work outside of the county, they don’t have to take a vacation day to come take care of business and they really appreciate it.”

Supervisor Joe Brock asked if opening on Saturdays brings in people from outside of the county often. Bishop said in the past few months, people from Bondurant, Southeast Polk, Grinnell and Pella have all been to Newton.

“Revenue is coming in from other places that we wouldn’t have captured otherwise,” Bishop said.

In other business:

• The supervisors approved an agreement with Premier of Marshalltown for a copier for Elderly Nutrition at $79 per month on a 36-month lease.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson at 641-792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com