The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles has reversed course on one of the most contentious actions of former Commissioner Joel Silverman and will again operate a full-service license branch in Gary starting this spring.
"We just say, 'Kumbaya,' " said state Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, as he stood shoulder to shoulder with current BMV chief Ron Stiver on Broadway on Friday.
"Without a doubt, we are happy we will have a full-service branch at the largest city in the region."
Stiver said Gov. Mitch Daniels had instructed him to expand BMV services in Lake County and Gary. The Frank O'Bannon Building, 661 Broadway, was chosen for its central location and because space was available from the Family and Social Services Administration.
"It's just good business practice," Stiver said.
The new BMV office will cost $340,000 annually to run, compared to the $775,000 it cost to operate the last full-service branch in Gary, he added.
That branch, which was at 1350 Broadway, closed in September 2005, along with dozens of others across the state. It was replaced by a limited-service office at the O'Bannon Building capable only of issuing licenses and identification cards.
That office has one-tenth the space the new office will have and was packed with customers on Friday morning. In the first nine months of this year, it issued 11,730 licenses and IDs, according to BMV figures.
The new office will be able to offer vehicle registrations, titles and other services. It will be open Tuesday through Saturday. It will have nine employees, compared to the three working at the limited-service branch.
Brown and Stiver were joined by state Sen. Earline Rogers and state Rep. Vernon Smith, both Gary Democrats, on Friday. They enlisted support earlier this year for legislation to force the BMV to open a full-service branch in Gary, but called off the effort when Stiver pledged something would be done.
"We tried various approaches and are glad today our dreams are met," Smith said.
The closure of the Gary BMV branch also was contested in a 2005 federal lawsuit filed by six Gary residents and business representatives.
They claimed the closure represented unlawful discrimination and would have a disparate impact on Gary residents and businesses.
The lawyer in the case, Tracy Coleman, said if the full-service branch opens in the spring, it means the case can be resolved.
On Friday, a mobile license branch, dubbed BMV2YOU, sat parked outside the O'Bannon Building and also did a steady business. Later in the day, it was scheduled to go to the WorkOne Center on 37th Avenue in Gary.
The mobile branch housed in a 40-foot trailer was going to be on the road in advance of the Nov. 6 election in order to give people more opportunity to get identification cards or licenses, said BMV spokesman Dennis Rosebrough.
