Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Ten years after drawing snickers by proposing an automated delivery system for local license branches, Jean Northenor is getting the last laugh.
And Warsaw motorists will be among the first to take advantage of the latest technology that debuts in selected locations throughout the state in the coming months.
On Wednesday, Gov. Frank O'Bannon unveiled the first of the ATM-styled machines at an Indianapolis location. The machines will provide 24-hour access to vehicle registration renewal transactions. The machines will be located adjacent to license branches or shopping malls.
Motorists will also be able to handle vehicle registration on the Internet or by telephone.
Warsaw is the smallest of the 35 communities promised the machines in the first year. License branch manager Barb Eastlund said she's unsure when or where the machine would be located.
According to a state spokesman the city was chosen for its geographical location. Northenor and Eastlund said they did not request it.
If its origin has anything to do with it, though, Warsaw deserves to have one.
It was Northenor, a Warsaw banker and Republican leader, who proposed the idea 10 years ago while serving on the historic commission that overhauled the agency.
The idea crossed Northenor's mind when she stopped at an ATM for some money while driving to Indianapolis for a BMV meeting. After making the transaction, she wondered why the same couldn't be done for motorists seeking license renewal stickers.
"When I approached them about it at the meeting, they about laughed me out of the room," Northenor recalled.
A year later, a prototype was unveiled in Indianapolis and adorned with a sign that read "The Jean Machine." The new device doesn't carry any such moniker, but Northenor is proud just the same.
"Any way the government can make things more efficient for the user is the way to go," she said.
Northenor was among the first to be appointed to a four-person commission directed by the legislature to remove political patronage from the BMV. She served on the commission for six years, and duties included several trips to Indianapolis and elsewhere each month.
As late as the early 1980s, license branches were run by the county's political chairman from the same party as the governor. It was the commission's job to eliminate politics and improve efficiency.
Part of the patronage allowed the party chairman to appoint all employees and reap all the profits. The result, in many cases, was poor service and deplorable facilities arranged by chairmen who sought to make as much profit as possible.
As part of the overhaul, Northenor and other commission members toured every license branch in the state as they made proposals.
One facility, she said, had a dirt floor.
"It was as bad as I had imagined."
But work on the commission helped bring one of the final aspects of Indiana politics out of the dark ages. The result was better service, better locations and - now - automated delivery systems.
"I really enjoyed serving on the commission because it made such a difference," Northenor said. "There were four of us who absolutely left politics at the door and were there just to try to make one facet of government work better."
