To the editor:

Jeannine Koranda, Kansas Department of Revenue spokeswoman, was talking about the long wait times at the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) offices (Journal-World, July 15). “And there’s been no reduction in staff at the local office,” she said.

I was at the Lawrence office on North Third Street a week ago. I got there at 1 p.m., and the line — about 50 people — snaked around the room. There were two staff behind the counter and two empty chairs. I asked the woman at the front of the line how long she had been waiting. She said two and a half hours.

I waited. Later, a third staff member came in and began taking customers. Occasionally, one of the staff would be answering a phone, sometimes with long conversations about DMV regulations. Once, one of the staff left the office for about 30 minutes with someone who was taking a driving test. The line never got any shorter because more people were coming in as others left.

Around 2:30, a fourth staff member arrived to fill the fourth chair behind the counter. Then the line really began to move! Perhaps those who arrived now would be out in one hour. As for me, I was out in two hours. And there were still about 50 people in line.

I wanted to ask these guys, “Where have you been? Who is in charge at the Lawrence office? Why isn’t it fully staffed?” Maybe Ms. Koranda could have asked them, but she wasn’t there.