Vehicle inspections deal at downtown Wichita tag office could hit speed bump

The Sedgwick County treasurer’s office and the Kansas Highway Patrol said Monday they’ve reached agreement to continue providing vehicle inspection services at the downtown Wichita tag office, wherever it may end up being.

But Sedgwick County Commission Chairman Richard Ranzau says it’s not a done deal yet, because of the $15,000 to $20,000 it would cost to set up an office for Highway Patrol inspectors when the tag office moves. The commission hasn’t picked a new location for the tag office and moving it is projected to cost at least $1.5 million, Ranzau said.

Keeping an inspection station downtown would save thousands of motorists each year a 23-mile round trip to Kechi to get the inspection required to register a vehicle brought in from out of state.

The KHP has agreed to continue offering vehicle ID inspections at its current location adjacent to the main tag office at 200 W. Murdock as long as it’s there, said Capt. Josh Kellerman of the patrol’s government and public affairs unit.

The partrol had earlier said that it would close the downtown inspection office with the opening of its new Kechi station near K-254 and Rock Road. The new station is under construction and could be open by October, although the exact date hasn’t been set yet.

The KHP plan is for the downtown station to be able to handle most inspections, although motorists seeking to register cars with salvage or off-highway titles would, in the future, have to take them to Kechi. The new station will have car lifts so the officers don’t have to crawl underneath a car to check frame numbers like they do now, Kellerman said.

The KHP will also be discontinuing inspection service now offered one day a week at the satellite tag offices in Derby and west and east Wichita.

Sedgwick County Treasurer Linda Kizzire and Sen. Michael O’Donnell negotiated the continuation of downtown inspection service.

“I’m just very happy,” Kizzire said. “It is very important for our relationship and our partnership to continue.”

O’Donnell said he got involved trying to make sure the state didn’t take an action that would bring blame on the treasurer’s office, which runs the local tag offices. He said he contacted Gov. Sam Brownback and got him to intervene with KHP leadership on behalf of keeping the downtown KHP inspection station open.

“My entire desire was to make sure we have as customer-friendly offices as possible,” O’Donnell said.

However, Ranzau said there has been discussion about keeping the tag office and KHP inspection together, but said “I don’t know we’re to that point yet.”

The tag office’s future location is in flux.

The county purchased a former Internal Revenue Service building downtown last year and plans were drawn up to move the tag office there. But a new and more conservative majority took control of the County Commission in January and is now seeking to lease or purchase a different space.

To include the highway patrol in the new tag office “at this point, is going to cost $15,000 to $20,000,” Ranzau said. “Are they going to pay for that cost and pay rent, like they do now?”

The county has issued a request for proposals for developing the new tag office and is in the process of evaluating the responses, Ranzau said. “Hopefully at some point we can come to a decision relatively soon,” he said.

Kellerman said the KHP is planning to follow the tag office to its new site, wherever that may be.

“It’s a good partnership for us,” he said. “That (downtown location) is obviously very convenient for customers.”

State law requires a vehicle identification number inspection whenever a car is brought in for registration from out of state. In addition, the patrol or its designee has to inspect VIN numbers when cars are registered under salvage or off-highway titles. The fee for an inspection is $20.

Last year, the patrol officers inspected 22,000 vehicles in Sedgwick County, about 18,600 of them at the Murdock tag office.

They caught 23 stolen cars and a stolen engine, according to patrol records.

Kellerman said he thinks having two five-day-a-week inspection sites would be more convenient for the public than the current mix of one full-time inspection station downtown and the one-day-a-week inspections at the satellite office.

This story was originally published August 31, 2015 at 3:27 PM with the headline "Vehicle inspections deal at downtown Wichita tag office could hit speed bump."