New Carlisle City Manager Kim Jones said she and other leaders are pleased with the decision.
“We’re very happy it’s going to stay open. Our citizens won’t have to drive to Springfield or (to other BMVs farther away). It’s a great shot in the arm,” Jones said.
In July, the state said it would reconsider plans to close the New Carlisle BMV if the office could increase its annual transactions to 40,000 from 37,726 in 2010.
Officials launched a campaign — supported by New Carlisle Council, Bethel Twp, Clark County Commissioners and Tecumseh Schools — to increase business, but still fell short of the goal ending with only 37,400 transactions as of November.
Clark County Clerk of Courts Ron Vincent said he and others who fought to keep the BMV open don’t know what led state officials to change their minds, but he thinks support from area leaders may have played a role.
“We don’t know the reason, but we appreciate it,” Vincent said. “We don’t know if they changed their criteria or what it was. We’re just very happy.”
Vincent and Jones say the BMV is used by residents in Clark, Champaign, Montgomery, Miami and Greene counties.
“They all come in right there together. It’s a good area,” Vincent said. “Being that close (to 40,000 transaction) again, maybe they couldn’t justify closing it.”
The New Carlisle BMV closed in 1989 along with about 80 other license bureaus in the state. The office reopened in the mid-1990s.
Clark County commissioners John Detrick, David Hartley and Rick Lohnes said they were pleased the office will remain open and said political pressure likely led state officials rethink their decision to close it.
Ohio BMV officials claimed closing the office would save more than $120,000 but could not produce evidence of that when commissioners and other county leaders met with them and demanded answers.
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