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MVD building gets facelift
Motor vehicle services now offered in newly renovated facility

<br>Submitted photos<br>
The former MVD building in Williams then (left) and now. FooteWork Auto License and Title Service will now rent the building from the city and provide motor vehicle services.

<br>Submitted photos<br> The former MVD building in Williams then (left) and now. FooteWork Auto License and Title Service will now rent the building from the city and provide motor vehicle services.

WILLIAMS - With state budget cuts forcing the closure of MVD offices throughout Arizona, including the Williams MVD location, the time may be right for private companies to step in and provide motor vehicle services.

Ken Foote, owner of FooteWork Auto License and Title Service, thinks so.

After extensive renovation and remodeling, Foote opened his private third party motor vehicle services office March 31 in the old MVD building owned by the city of Williams.

Foote, a state authorized service provider, offers all of the services a traditional MVD provides. The one exception - driver's licenses. Foote said he expects to be able to add that service to his offerings sometime this summer due to legislative changes.

"With all the budget cuts and all the things they are realizing they can't keep up with, the state is going to give that over to private companies," he said.

Renovation of the former MVD building began three weeks ago. Foote said he spent $6,000 in renovations.

The city of Williams completed some of the necessary renovations as well.

"The city was really cooperative," Foote said. "Everything I'm reading says they're making a big push to clean up town and bring business in."

According to Foote, the city removed the old single-pane, low efficiency windows in the building and put in high efficiency, double pane windows. The city also removed a heating unit that filled the front window along with the unit fan on the outside of the building, replacing it with a high efficiency heater and air conditioner housed in an inside closet. The city also re-landscaped areas around the building as well.

"Everything else we did," Foote said. "The idea is that we now pay rent. The government never paid rent. The city is going to make their money back on the rent that we pay. So, it was a little bit of an up front investment from the city's standpoint."

Foote went on to say that termite infested paneling was removed and the building's brick walls were replaced with new insulated dry wall. The floors have been cleaned up and old cabinet desks have been replaced.

"We opened it all up and painted everything," Foote said. "We brought in new customer desks and nice padded chairs for people to sit. Just changed the whole feel. We try to change it up from what Motor Vehicle does."

Foote currently operates two other offices in Prescott and Prescott Valley. He opened his first office in 1998 in Prescott. Two fulltime employees will staff the Williams office, currently open three days per week. Once employee training is complete, the office will be open Monday through Friday.

"Because we're a private company, we have to earn the business," Foote said. "With any private industry, you have to treat your customers with respect and courtesy. That's what we pride ourselves on. The customers that have come in have just been floored."

Foote plans to open four more offices in Cottonwood, Flagstaff, Havasu and Payson.

"This is an opportune time," Foote said. "The state having its struggles with the budget, they're not able to keep up with all their staffing cuts. My company can step in and supplement them and it doesn't cost the state anything."

Williams City Council approved the rental agreement with FooteWork during their regular meeting Feb. 11. Interim City Manager Joe Duffy said Foote will pay $500 monthly to the city for use of the building for one year.

"We signed a lease with an option to renew and there would be an escalated cost after that portion," Duffy said. "Our intent is that they will be successful and they will be renting from us for quite a long time. ADOT never paid any rent at all. We let them basically use the building for free. Because of that, we never put any hard dollars into the facility. Now that we have someone paying us rent, it's a good time to make some renovations."

Williams Mayor John Moore said keeping a motor vehicles office in Williams is important not just for the services it will provide but also for the business it will attract to the community.

"It's a service to the community, not only to the community of Williams but to Ash Fork, Seligman and other areas," he said. "I think that when people come here to purchase licenses or titles or whatever the necessities are for their vehicles, then they go to the grocery store, go downtown, eat lunch or whatever. It's a service that is not just good for MVD but it brings business to other areas, too."

Williams resident Tari Weatherly said along with the building's facelift, the attitude she encountered during her first visit to the facility is a welcome change.

"As a citizen from Williams, I'm happy to have friendly people in this building," she said. "To see smiling faces is great."


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