Hobart getting BMV kiosk after license branch closure last year

The state may have taken the Hobart License Branch, but it shall leave a kiosk in its wake.

The city’s Board of Works approved at its recent meeting a kiosk to be set up at the Police Court Complex, 705 E. Fourth St. The kiosk, from which drivers can renew their licenses, vehicle tags and just about every other transaction that can be done by the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles, is expected to be installed and ready to go in two months, Mayor Brian Snedecor’s assistant Bob Fulton said.

Fulton said a security door will be installed separating the kiosk from the court hallway so people can use it 24/7 — which will be helpful for people who come before Hobart City Court on expired tag violations, Clerk-Treasurer and board member Deb Longer joked.

“Now, they have no excuse not to come before the judge with expired tags,” she said.

Fulton said the state won’t pay for the kiosk directly; instead, the city will submit an invoice to state kiosk vendor ITI, which will submit it to the state.

The state closed the Hobart BMV branch on 37th Avenue in December despite community outcry. BMV Commissioner Joe Hoage said at the time that a 27% drop in use of the branch plus three other branches in Gary, Merrillville and Portage facilitated its closure.

A BMV analysis showed the branch conducted 64,856 transactions in 2018. So far this year, there have been 56,592, Hoage said on Oct. 5.

Hobart was the ninth branch closed statewide since 2019. More than a dozen other branches have downsized or relocated as consumers shift to online transactions.

In Lake County, the BMV has kiosks in Griffith, Crown Point, according to its website. It still has branches in Merrillville, Schererville, Griffith, Crown Point, East Chicago, Hammond, and Gary; and Portage, along with a kiosk, and Valparaiso in Porter County.

In other business, the board voted to approve a task order not to exceed $12,500 for a dog park to be located next to the wastewater treatment plant on Front Street. It should be completed by late summer, Longer said.

Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.