County satellite office reopens DMV, adds clerk services in Oneonta

Nov. 12—The Otsego County satellite office in downtown Oneonta reopened its Department of Motor Vehicles location with some added county clerk services Tuesday, Nov. 12.

The reopened DMV, located at 242 Main St. in the basement level with building access from the entrance near the Westcott parking lot, offers limited services focused on simple and quick transactions, including driver license and ID renewal, vehicle registration and renewal and plate surrender.

The open hours are on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 9-11:30 a.m. for walk-in service and noon to 4 p.m. for appointments only. The last appointment would be scheduled for 3:30 p.m. An appointment scheduler is available on the county DMV website.

Limited county clerk services, including certified copies, clerk certificates and notary services, will be available 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday.

"To be able to bring these services back to the area is huge, very big," County Clerk Jennifer Basile said. The county clerk's office governs the county DMV.

"We're all really excited about it. While it's not a full scale office, we're still providing a lot of services that that are needed in the county," she said.

The Oneonta DMV office closed in May 2020 due to budget cuts that came in response to COVID-19, according to Daily Star archives. The Cooperstown DMV remained open because it was located in the county office building.

In February of this year, the county Board of Representatives approved using $21,942 to purchase mobile equipment for satellite DMV services for Oneonta. Basile's office ordered the mobile equipment from the state that month.

The mobile equipment can be loaded into a vehicle and driven to a site to allow residents to access DMV services, restoring a version of services that were once at the physical building. Basile said the plan is to utilize the mobility of the equipment to bring DMV services to remote locations in Otsego County on the days when the Oneonta location is closed.

Several people celebrated the grand opening Tuesday morning, including state Sen. Peter Oberacker, state Assemblymember Chris Tague, Otsego County Board of Representatives Chairperson Edwin Frazier, county board member Michelle Catan, who represents the town of Oneonta, and Oneonta Common Council Eighth Ward member Don Mathisen.

Oberacker said that the DMV reopening was a "promise that was completed and followed through on."

"A lot of times, those of us that are in government, we make promises and it's tough to follow through," Oberacker said, "and the state wasn't exactly a true partner on this. To your credit, to your staff's credit, to everyone here at the county level, job well done."

Tague said that local residents will be served by the convenience of the DMV location.

"The biggest argument that I hear from folks, especially in my home county of Schoharie, is the long wait at the DMV," he said. "Hopefully some of our other rural counties will be able to mirror this and do something similar."

Mathisen, who represented the downtown ward where the satellite DMV office is located, said that the reopening is good for the city of Oneonta and the county as well.

"I'm very thankful for the work that was put into it on both the county and state level," he said.