DMV Chief Meese Quits, Gets Another State Post

State Motor Vehicles Department chief George E. Meese, who drew heavy criticism earlier this year when his agency accumulated an enormous backlog of unfinished work, resigned his $78,207-a-year post Friday and was immediately appointed to another job by Gov. George Deukmejian.

Both Meese and Kevin Brett, deputy press secretary to Deukmejian, stressed that the resignation was voluntary and unrelated to the controversy that plagued the vast department during the first half of the year.

“There’s no problem at all,” Brett said. “Meese served as director for nearly three years and expressed an interest in moving into another area of state government. We were able to accommodate him.”

The governor nominated Meese, brother of U.S. Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III, to a four-year term on the state Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, whose members are paid $72,456 annually. The appointment is subject to Senate confirmation. George Meese succeeds Herbert Rhodes of Sacramento, whose term expired in September.

Reservations Plan

Meese, clerk and administrator of the Livermore-Pleasanton Municipal Court when Deukmejian appointed him Motor Vehicles Department director, found himself at the center of a firestorm when the agency began requiring the public to make reservations by telephone before visiting department field offices. Previously, it was first-come, first-served.

The telephone system was aimed at making the department more responsive to motorists who had long complained of standing in lines waiting for service.

However, the project flopped. Among other things, callers could not get through, and in some cases, telephone information operators could not find the correct numbers. Some motorists complained that they tried unsuccessfully for weeks to make an appointment.

When motorists showed up in person at the offices, they were turned away because they did not have reservations. The backlog swelled to an estimated 200,000 cases, as motorists allowed their automobile registration and driver’s license to expire.

A department memo estimated that the backlog caused delays in collecting an estimated $16 million in revenue. In May, the department retreated and agreed to operate both the reservation system and the traditional no-appointment system.

In July, the department claimed victory over the backlog.

“There are always problems at DMV when you’re trying to serve so many people,” Meese said Friday. “I think we have accomplished some pretty big objectives.”

Among them, he cited the automation of department field offices throughout the state, adding that he expects automation to “take care of the needs of Californians for the next few years.”

Deukmejian appointed Loyd H. Forrest Jr., the department’s deputy chief of operations since last May, as interim director to replace Meese. Previously, Forrest was an assistant secretary of the Business, Housing and Transportation Agency.