DRIVER’S LICENSE OFFICE MOVING – Capt. Jerome Powell and Adjutant Pete Padilla from the Texas Department of Public Safety told the Katy City Council Monday night that the state is looking for a new location for the local driver’s license office. The lease to use the city-owned VFW building expires at the end of the year.
The Texas Department of Public Safety has begun the effort to locate a new site for a driver’s license office in Katy.
During Monday’s city council meeting, two DPS representatives told council members the department has asked the Texas Facilities Commission to expedite efforts to identify a suitable site in order to have the new location ready when the current lease at the VFW Post expires.
Capt. Jerome Powell and DPS Adjutant Pete Padilla told the council the department is making every effort to make certain the new office remains in Katy.
Powell said the department even hopes to expand its local operation.
“Today, we’re going to discuss our plans to stay in the City of Katy and try to acquire some property to expand our particular operation here,” Powell told the council.
Padilla said the Texas Facilities Commission, which handles lease arrangements for state offices, has begun the process of finding a location.
“When we received notification that we were going to have to vacate the VFW property – for which we were very grateful for the number of years that you allowed us to stay there – we submitted our request to the Texas Facilities Commission to start looking for another office, Padilla said. “This process could take anywhere from six months up to a year in finding this property. Once the award is given to a lessor, to do the build-out, get permits and actually move in, it could take up to 12 months from the date of the award.”
Since the current lease at the VFW Post, which is owned by the city, expires at the end of the year, Padilla said the facilities commission has been asked to speed up the process.
“We’re asking the TFC to expedite our request to a priority because we would like to have the new location coincide with the current lease, which expires in December,” Padilla said.
He stressed the DPS wants the driver’s license operation to remain in Katy.
We’re got to try and stay within Katy proper to maintain the driver’s license facility here and provide that service for the citizens of Katy and the local residents,” Padilla said.
Mayor Don Elder said the city would provide any assistance it could, adding that State Rep. Bill Callegari (R-Katy) has also pledged to help.
“I would think the city would want to work with you any way we can,” Elder said.
In May, the council tabled a proposal from the Texas Facilities Commission to renew the lease on the current driver’s license office in the VFW building on George Bush Drive.
In a letter to Finance Director Byron Hebert, regional lease officer Bob Bugnand proposed renewing the existing lease for an additional 60 months through Dec. 31, 2014.
The renewal proposed to continue to use 960 square feet of the VFW building, which is owned by the City of Katy, for $856.22 per month.
Bugnand’s letter contained the lease renewal agreement for the city to sign. No one from the state appeared at the May meeting to discuss the proposal.
The council tabled the renewal proposal after VFW Post Commander Peyton Lumpkin objected to the lease renewal, saying the driver’s license operation was hampering VFW operations.
Lumpkin said his organization was being severely limited by the driver’s license operation. With the continuing growth of the Katy area, he said the problem will only grow over the period of the lease.
“In the next few years, we’re going to have over 300,000 people in this area,” Lumpkin told the council in May. “This is the only driver’s license office in the Katy area.”
With a new nursing facility opening across the street and increased use of the VFW parking lot by people going to the driver’s license office, traffic is already increasing, Lumpkin said.
“This could easily turn into a hazardous situation,” he told council members.
Lumpkin also told the council the VFW is operating a “first class museum” within the facility, but that, too, is being squeezed out by the DPS.
“We were hoping the DPS would find a new home so we could expand our museum,” Lumpkin said.
He pointed out the museum already has a number of artifacts and exhibits they are forced to keep in an off-site storage building because of a lack of space to put them on display.
“There are also (other artifacts) that we will be given if we can expand our museum,” Lumpkin explained. “If we lock ourselves into a five-year lease, we would be hurting ourselves. It will certainly hurt the plans for the VFW.”
City Administrator Johnny Nelson also urged council members to table the renewal request, telling them the terms of the agreement have not changed over the years and the city actually loses money on the deal.
“It’s costing the City of Katy a lot of money to support this driver’s license facility,” Nelson said.
