News from MDT-MCS
By Drew Livesey, Administrator, Motor Carrier Services, MDT

Recently—while in Kalispell for the Western Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (WASHTO) convention at the Outlaw Hotel—I stopped in to visit with Paul Uken and R.T. Adkins about the future of the Kalispell Weigh Station located west of town.

By way of background, the MCS Officer position at the Kalispell Weigh Station has been vacant since Rick Mehring was reassigned as one of the two MCS Patrol Officers who headquarter in Kalispell to service the northwestern corner of the state.

Rick’s position remains vacant pending the outcome of a Traffic Safety Review of the Kalispell Weigh Station. As Flathead folks know, the Kalispell facility is no longer “out in the country.” In fact, quite the opposite is now true. So, in the best interest of the traveling public, MCS customers and my employees, I believe a safety review is the right thing to do.

Although Rick Mehring continues to open the weigh station at the end of the month for GVW fees and such, I know that having the weigh station virtually shut down has worked a hardship on the industry in and around Kalispell… and I apologize for any inconvenience. 

When I visited with Paul and R.T., I was able to tell them that the safety review is now complete and that we should have the findings in a few weeks. We all hope the findings support keeping the Kalispell Weigh Station open—and, if so, I’ll start the hiring process for Rick’s replacement immediately. 

As Paul and R.T. talked about the importance of permitting and GVW fee services available at the Kalispell Weigh Station, I wondered out loud what they thought of MCS’ self-issuing Internet Permit program. Not much, I found out. What I believe I learned is that loggers aren’t enthusiastic about this kind of technology… and, more to the point, would prefer to continue doing business as usual.

I completely understand this point of view… and I would also be the first to admit that self-issuing a permit over the Internet is not for the faint of heart if your computer skills are like mine. However, my employees in Helena and at the weigh stations have been using the permit system for almost three years now and they have grown to like it.

At that point in the conversation Paul mentioned that although he didn’t care much for technology himself, he really liked the automated hunting and fishing license program recently introduced by the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

This got me thinking. I’m familiar with the hunting and fishing license system too, which is a very fine piece of work, and is much simpler by comparison than self-issuing an oversize/overweight permit. It does seem to me, however, that a fair comparison could be drawn between the hunting and fishing license program and self-issuing GVW fees on my system.

I know the logging industry, for all kinds of business reasons, likes to take advantage of Montana’s option to buy GVW fees monthly, quarterly, in six-month increments or annually. All of these same options can be exercised over the Internet and with the added benefit of incredibly convenient access. Instead of waiting until a weigh station is open, you can buy fees over the Internet any time of the day or night—365 days a year—and all you need is a computer and valid major credit card. And there is no charge for this convenience beyond the actual price of the fee itself.

My thinking, as I listened to Paul and R.T. talk, was that maybe even if an MLA member wasn’t quite ready to go full-tilt into self-issuing permits over the Internet, the GVW fee transaction—which is much simpler and straight forward—might be a good way to get acquainted with the technology. And after a little GVW fee experience, perhaps getting into the self-issuing permit game might come easier.

MCS has issued 300,000 permits over the system, so I’m not concerned about the technology; however, I am concerned about giving MCS customers better access to services you need. So, if you’d like to try self-issuing your GVW fees on-line, go on-line and fill out the electronic application at http://app.discoveringmontana.com/ipermit/ and please don’t forget to push the “submit” button when you’re finished.

Think about it and see if it makes good business sense for you. And thanks for taking the time to read this article. I’ll keep you posted on the Kalispell Weigh Station. 

This article taken from the MLA news letter.