RMV needs all the help it can get

For all those who manage to do their jobs without having an outside agency watch over them to ensure they don’t bungle things with deadly results — please tell the RMV how it’s done.

It’s so bad over there that Glenn Kaplan, a member of the Merit Rating Board, wants the IG to embed an employee within the board to report to board members, work alongside the director and act as an added “line of defense.”

The Merit Rating Board, a division of the RMV, has the task of processing out-of-state license suspensions. It was the agency’s failure to keep drivers’ records up to date and suspend licenses based on out-of-state driving infractions that allowed thousands of drivers to stay on the road. One of those drivers, truck driver Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, is now accused of killing seven motorcyclists in New Hampshire in June.

As the Herald’s Mary Markos reported, the Merit Rating Board met for the second time Wednesday as the Massachusetts Department of Transportation reactivated its statutory oversight role. The board last met in 2015 despite “repeated requests” from the Attorney General’s office to meet in the past, according to a spokeswoman.

If private-sector employees failed to meet when asked to do so by high-ranking company management, they would likely find themselves in HR having an exit interview. For “civilians,” there are job expectations, and they must be met.

But in the RMV, we need an “extra line of defense” — against what, exactly? Incompetence? The inability to grasp that not suspending the license of someone who racked up drunk driving charges in another state could have tragic consequences?

“Having an additional person that’s able to focus more just on problematic aspects rather than the day-to-day running so they don’t miss the forest through the trees … I think that there would be big benefits,” Kaplan said at the meeting. Or don’t miss the bins and bins (72, as has been reported) of out-of-state violations racked up by Massachusetts drivers. Processing out-of-state license suspensions is part of the “day-to-day running.” It became a problematic aspect when people failed to perform their jobs.

Acting Registrar Jamey Tesler noted that the IG’s office already has a unit embedded at MassDOT. He voted in favor of the proposal.

“I think it’s really important that we get the oversight and the transparency that the MRB needs and I think it will be a value addition to all of us,” Tesler told reporters, “and add that third layer of audit and scrutiny that we all need to make sure the MRB succeeds.”

Third layer of audit and scrutiny? That’s what’s needed to make the MRB succeed? With all due respect, we’d put competence at the top of the list, followed by a solid work ethic and ability to focus on the job at hand. And those skills should be division-wide. There are job expectations, and they should be met.

The embed request would need to be approved by Inspector General Glenn Cunha, who said in a statement that the office is “always open to working with state agencies to improve their operations,” and looks forward to working with the board.

It would be preferable if the RMV could straighten up and fly right on its own, but with lives at stake, we’ll take all the layers of help we can get.

 

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2m1a8Oe