NCDMV commissioner Goodwin to step down from often-maligned agency

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- After three years at the helm of the North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles, Commissioner Wayne Goodwin told state lawmakers Wednesday morning that he plans to step down from the position.

His announcement comes two weeks after his position was posted on a government careers website.

Goodwin had been in his role since January 2021 and appears to have made some strides in reducing long wait times at agency offices.

Some residents have cited inefficiencies and frustrations in scheduling appointments.

"I did find one the other day when I was looking around. And it was for an office around an hour from (Raleigh) and the first appointment they had available was sometime in May. And this is the end of February, and my license needs to be renewed in the next 60 days," said Eric Schmidt. "So I'm here to wait in line so I can get it renewed."

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In a speech to lawmakers at a Joint Senate Appropriations on Department of Transportation meeting Wednesday morning, Goodwin said, ""More and more over the course of the last year, especially the last six months, I've been considering what the next chapters in my professional life will be and what I'd like to do to be happy and happier, as we all do, while still doing my part to make the state a better place than we found it."

In Goodwin's tenure, he's hired 400 employees and reduced the department's high-vacancy rate.

NCDOT Secretary Joey Hopkins answered questions from lawmakers Wednesday, as well as what he wants to see in the next commissioner.

"(We'll) try and find a leader there with some business-type skills and management skills that have run larger programs and systems and can come in and really look at ours from top to bottom and see where we can make the biggest difference," Hopkins said. "I could talk about this program or that software or this system that we've done or that we plan to do. But until it starts making a difference to the wait times and the services that the citizens get, it's not serving anybody."