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SALEM -- Salem community members and officials celebrated the reinstatement of the Salem Bureau of Motor Vehicles office to the bid list in the city council's Tuesday meeting.
"It is on, it's on, Wednesday at two in the afternoon we were put back up for bid, and the proposal is in motion," said Deputy Registrar Robin Gray.
Gray, who attended council's previous meeting on Jan. 16 to seek council support in the resisting the bureau's decision not to rebid the Salem office after 33 years serving Salem and its surrounding communities following her impending retirement at the end of June, confirmed that the office had been restored to the bid list Jan. 30. Gray said that they would still need to go through the bidding process, something that she and her intended successor Office Manager Erin Ohlin had already been preparing for prior to the initial announcement, and that the results would be in by May.
"We're up and we're in the midst of getting the proposal in, we have a deadline extension to Feb. 29. We should know by May if everything worked out the way we wanted it to," said Gray.
Gray thanked everyone who became involved in the issue for their support, noting Councilman Ron Zellers and resident John Tarlton had helped direct her to the appropriate action to fight the bureau's decision. Gray also said that the response from the community and elected officials that supported her had been incredible.
"Basically, what I'm here to say is thank you everyone and I have a list, and of course the spearhead of the whole situation was Mr. Zellers and John Tarlton, they came to me, spurred me to be what needed to be done, you guys helped, the letter to the governor from state Sen. [Michael] Rulli I'm sure was a catalyst. The response from the community and the news station, and you guys [council], and the mayor [Cyndi Baronzzi Dickey] and everyone was so heartwarming and really very uplifting, so we're going to stay hopefully," said Gray.
Gray also said that the Lisbon BMV office, the only other in Columbiana County, had been down for the last four days and the Salem office had been assisting their customers, jokingly asking where they would have been sent if not for the Salem office.
Tarlton, who also attended the Jan. 16 meeting to urge city officials to push back on the bureau's decision, addressed council prior to Gray, joking that it likely would have been better had Gray preceded him. Tarlton said he hoped city officials had acted on the issue since that meeting and wanted to thank any who had.
"All I want to say is I hope some of you folks were involved in getting something done about the bureau of motor vehicles, and I wanted to thank anybody who did have something to do with it and perhaps get some information as to where that stands at this point," said Tarlton,
City Council President Sara Baronzzi said that council had sent a joint letter to the bureau regarding its decision to shutter the office, with Councilman Andrew Null noting that they had received a positive response, informing them the office would be reinstated to the bid list.
During pleasure of council Baronzzi also thanked everyone involved with the efforts to retain the Salem office, noting she was happy that it would remain in the community.
"I would also like to thank all those involved in reaching out to the BMV, just the demeanor change in Robin [Gray] between two weeks ago to now, you can see how much she cares and I'm happy it will remain open in the community," said Baronzzi.
These sentiments were echoed by Councilwoman Sara Baer, who said that she was happy that the response from the Bureau had come quickly and was hoping for a positive outcome moving forward.
"I'm very pleased by the outcome of the retention of the Salem BMV, it was a concerted effort by the mayor, by members of city council, by state Rep. [Monica Robb] Blasdel and Se. Rulli, it was nice to see such a quick turnaround, and we really appreciate Robin Gray's excellent work here in the city of Salem over the last 30 years and we hope for a very positive outcome moving forward," said Baer
City Council will meet next at 7 p.m. Feb. 20.
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