New driver services building going up south of Dalton on Wagner Drive

Charles Oliver, The Daily Citizen, Dalton, Ga.
·2 min read

Aug. 4—The first contact that some people have with government in Georgia is at a Department of Driver Services customer service center, said David Connell, chairman of the Georgia Board of Driver Services.

"Think about it," he said. "If someone from Kentucky moves to Dalton to work at one of the carpet mills, one of the first things he does is get his driver's license changed. We want to make a good first impression."

Connell and other state and local officials gathered Monday morning at 235 Wagner Drive just south of Dalton for the groundbreaking for a new customer service center building. The building is next to and will replace a modular building that has served as a customer service center since 2006.

"This will allow us to provide more efficient services," said Spencer Moore, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Driver Services. "The current building is a trailer. It was intended to be a temporary site. We used it for a few more years than we anticipated. But it's time to be replaced. It really doesn't allow the sort of customer flow in the lobby that we are accustomed to in some of our other buildings."

The customer service center issues and renews driver's licenses and replaces lost and stolen licenses. It also conducts written and road tests for driver's licenses.

"This is a CDL (commercial driver's license testing) site," Moore said. "It's one of 10 in the state. The demand for CDL license holders is strong, and we want to make sure people can come in and get tested as quickly as possible and fill that demand."

The building will be 8,100 square feet. The trailer is 4,800 square feet.

In addition to the new building, the $2.7 million project will include repairs to the asphalt CDL testing pads.

The customer service center will be on land donated by Whitfield County.

"This is the sort of partnership we are looking to engage in," said county Board of Commissioners Chairman Jevin Jensen. "This new customer service center will provide better service not only to residents of Dalton and Whitfield County but to the counties around us."

Moore said the customer service center serves an average of 3,000 people each month.

He said the project is expected to be completed in about nine months.