(WSB photo from January, former West Seattle Licenses office post-closure)
It’s been six months since the sudden closure of the vehicle-licensing subagent West Seattle Licenses. Though in-person services like this largely remain closed anyway, we wondered recently if West Seattle was close to getting a new one, since the previous estimate was “as soon as June.” So we checked with King County, which leads the process for finding and managing subagents like these. Here’s what spokesperson Cameron Satterfield told us this week:
The RFP is closed, and our Records and Licensing Division is in the process of evaluating the responsive applicants. Six applicants were chosen for interviews, which should (have been) complete by the end of this week. Next step is to rank those applicants in order and send the list to state DOL for their review and final selection. That process takes a minimum of four weeks, but it could be longer considering the pandemic situation. Once we get the final selection back from state DOL, we’ll work with that applicant to get a contract signed and complete the work needed before opening. Since we don’t yet know who the final choice will be, I don’t have a timeline for opening. Some of the factors that go into that include the applicant securing a lease or purchase for their physical location, getting DOL equipment installed and tested, and making sure the applicant and their employees have the necessary training.
As of a few days ago, the location used by the former sub-agent still had a “For Lease” sign in the window (that wouldn’t necessarily be where the new subagent sets up, though). Meantime, no update on the results of a state “administrative review (of) irregularities” involving the previous subagent.
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