Bureau of Motor Vehicles employees at the department’s east side headquarters on Hospital Street are on the move.

Many of the department’s employees will begin moving this week from the department’s main office building on Hospital Street to a temporary home at the nearby Marquardt building, which is on the grounds of the former Augusta Mental Health Institute.

The move is being prompted by a roof repair at the bureau’s headquarters that is expected to take several months.

The move won’t affect the BMV branch office at 19 Anthony Ave. in north Augusta, where customers can get help with registrations, license plates, driver’s licenses and state identification cards, as well as disability placards and dealer temporary plates.

“The impact to the public is expected to be minimal,” said Kristen Schulze Muszynski, spokeswoman for the Office of Secretary of State, which oversees the department.

The move affects staff on the second floor of the bureau’s headquarters at 101 Hospital St. Work on the 78,000-square-foot building’s roof is expected to begin Thursday and run through August. The state owns the Hospital Street building, which was built in 1992.

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The State Bureau of General Services owns the Marquardt building across the street at 32 Blossom Lane.

Driver’s license services, the stock room, information services and the motor carrier divisions, which are on the first two floors, will remain at the Hospital Street building during the roof renovation project, Muszynski said.

Staff members in the vehicle services and administration services division will move to the third floor of the Marquardt building while the roof is replaced at Hospital Street.

Administration services will begin the three-day move to the Marquardt building Wednesday. The secretary of state’s human resources and staff development offices will move Thursday, and vehicle services will move next Monday and Tuesday.

The BMV will continue to serve customers at the main office on Hospital Street during the move. After Tuesday , those who need help with registration, titles, long-term trailers, disability plates, placards, temporary plates and dealer licensing services should go to the Marquardt building.

“As with any move, there will be some impact, and we tried to minimize that by splitting it up among two weeks,” said Patty Morneault, deputy secretary of state for the BMV. “Of course, with any new change or move like this, it is going to disrupt things, and people will take some time to adjust and get their feet wet.”

Muszynski said she did not know how much the repair work will cost.

Amec Foster Wheeler, of Portland, is providing architectural, engineering, design, bid procurement and project management for the roof replacement. Bangor-based Roof Systems of Maine is the roofing contractor. The parking lot on the east side of the BMV main office building, which is next to the Capital Area Recreation Association ballfields, will be fenced off for the roofing equipment and materials throughout the project.


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