Projo Politics Blog

Amid the layoffs, the Carcieri administration has posted a hiring notice for a new $89,135-to-$101,499-a-year administrator of the state Division of Motor Vehicles, known more familiarly to most Rhode Islanders as the Registry.

What’s this about? After threatening for more than a year to retire, registry chief Charles F. “Ted” Dolan has served notice that this time he really means it and will be gone after finishing up the week before Christmas.

Dolan, who turns 66 in February, said he put his retirement plans on hold because “we were in the middle of a big investigation by the state police,” and he didn’t feel it would be right to leave that on the table for somebody new.

The investigation to which he referred culminated in the arrest in October of two Registry clerks who have been charged by the state police in a wide-ranging scheme of falsifying dozens of Rhode Island driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants and people involved in midlevel drug dealing. Dolores Rodriguez-LaFlamme, 40, of Providence, and Soraya Santiago, 42, of Pawtucket, are accused of working with two middlemen, who were paid about $2,500 to $3,000 by each person who wanted a valid Rhode Island license with a fake identity.

After retiring as the captain of detectives in the Pawtucket Police Department, Dolan spent three years as inspector general for the state Department of Transportation, and 10 years as chief investigator for the DMV before former Governor Lincoln C. Almond chose him to head the DMV in the fall of 2000 after the former administrator, Thomas Harrington, retired.

As administrator, Dolan said he has been keenly aware that the Registry is one arm of state government with which almost every Rhode Islander does business, and the place where first impressions are made for new arrivals. He said he has been frustrated by failed attempts to move the Registry first to the Pastore complex, in Cranston, and then to a site along Plainfield Pike in Johnston, but is proud that the registry was open for business within five days of being forced by severe storm damage to relocate to the temporary quarters — where the main branch of the Registry still resides in Pawtucket — nearly three years ago. But he said he is leaving with bids already in for a three-year, $13-million upgrade of the Registry’s “30-year-old” technology system.

For every derogatory letter the Registry receives, he says he gets “20 to 25 letters” of gratitude.

He shared one from William A. McCombe, of Block Island, that said, in part: “I called on 10/11/07 because I needed a rush on my title … I know people are quick to complain when they are not happy, however, good service should be [complimented]. Please pass this note of appreciation along to Diane in the Title Department who was so helpful to me.” And, this one from Herman E. Sousa said: “Most people regard the [DMV] as an absolute nightmare and dread the entire process, but Sandy definitely made our lives that much easier with her competence, professionalism and kindness.”

A self-described “baseball nut,” Dolan said he and his wife have a second home, in Fort Myers, Fla., about 15 minutes from where the Red Sox and Minnesota twins have their spring training camps, though “not far enough” from the Yankees who are “up in St. Petersburg. I think they should be in China.”

With longevity payments, Dolan makes $119,261 a year. His division is now an arm of the new Department of Revenue. His official title is “associate director of revenue services.”

--By Katherine Gregg
Journal State House bureau

Comments

Harold Miller said:

Ted Dolan has been an outstanding state employee.

It should not be tanished by the fact that he is a red sox diehard. BECAUSE THE WON TWO WORLD SERIES HE BELIEVES THEY ARE A DYNASTY. He gets confused with the YANKEES, A REAL DYNASTY.

Good Luck and enjoy ur retirement. A yankee fan from Delray Beach.

Link | December 3, 2007 10:19 AM
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