New Sedgwick County tag office has space – lots of it

03 Jun New Sedgwick County tag office has space – lots of it

Sedgwick County’s newest tag office, at the former Dillons store at Douglas and Meridian, was unveiled to the public Thursday during a ribbon cutting and open house.

“This is one of those things we get to celebrate in the community, but that doesn’t happen very often,” said Sedgwick County Commission Chairman Jim Howell. “We want to celebrate big.”

The tag office issues license plates and partners with the Kansas Highway Patrol for vehicle inspections.

“This is a huge deal,” Howell said.

“It has been a long time that we have talked about needing a new tag office to meet the needs of this community.”

The new office replaces the main tag office at 200 W. Murdock, which opened in 1988. The tag office on Murdock is nearly 7,000 square feet. The newly renovated Dillons building has 20,000 square feet.

The Murdock location had 44 parking spaces; the Dillons space has 139.

It also has public Wi-Fi access as well as the QLess Wait Line Management System, where you can get in a virtual line via cellphone, computer or touch-screen kiosk.

“We have ample space to do what needs to get done,” Howell said. “It didn’t have adequate parking. And did you know that (Murdock) building didn’t have public restrooms?”

The new one does.

“We have beautiful restrooms,” Howell said as the crowd began to laugh. “You can hang out if you want to.”

Roughly half of the old Dillons building is now devoted to customer service booths and lobby space. The other half houses offices, a conference room, a snack room and inventory.

The building was purchased and remodeled for $1.7 million. With furniture and technology updates, the total cost was $2.3 million, Howell said.

The county has been in the Murdock building since 1988.

When the new tag office on West Douglas officially opens to the public on Monday, the regular hours will be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Sedgwick County Treasurer Linda Kizzire said Thursday that she was thankful “this happened on my watch.”

Sedgwick County also has three satellite tag offices: in Derby, near 21st and Maize Road, and at Brittany Center at 21st and Woodlawn.