In 2013, the DMV was solid and stable. Now in the third year of using the database that was developed over the 2010 – 2011 event year, we’ve refined our use of the database and the use of iPads for processing the mutant and disabled vehicles. Processing time remains low, and our “customers” have come to expect a smooth, efficient process.
The total numbers of vehicles licensed by the DMV has stayed consistent over the last several years, despite the increased attendance at the event. There was a deliberate effort this year to cut back on staff vehicles to allow more vehicles with artistic merit to be invited. Every year, we receive many more applications for vehicles than we can invite. During our processing meetings, we strive to select a wide variety of mutant vehicles of varying size, levels of interactivity, beauty and whimsy.
This year saw a lot of cross-pollination with other departments with which the DMV interfaces. Different members of the Council trained and worked shifts in Gate and the Rangers. We also moved our database to the playa a week earlier, so that it would be available for Gate and the Rangers to look up vehicles, even before we were setup as a department or processing vehicles.In 2013, we built out a small building for use as our administrative office. This reduced the need for one of our two rental buildings, and will give us some continuity in space planning from year to year. In 2014, we have plans to convert our storage container into our main processing office, which will eliminate our use of rental buildings during the event.
Our Volunteer Coordinator Team this year went from one VC to three. We also were one of the teams that implemented Shiftboard for scheduling our staffing. Shiftboard was an improvement over our home-grown system. It was easy for our volunteers to use, and for us to generate reports.The mutant vehicle sound policy was published last year, and has been widely publicized. Complaints about obtrusive sound from vehicles seem to have dropped, but it’s important that we reinforce the vehicle owner’s understanding of the policy during the application and licensing process.
Submitted by,
Janet Voss