N.C. DMV Call Center Moving From Raleigh to Bladen County

The state’s top elected leaders have agreed to transfer 96 positions from a deteriorating Division of Motor Vehicles call center in Raleigh to a building in southeast North Carolina.

The center handles more than 20,000 calls a week from motorists, insurance companies and others. The workload could triple in the coming years because of new federal rules that will require the state to authenticate the identity of driver’s license applicants, said Hope McLamb, the division’s operations director.

The state will enter into a 10-year, $227,000-a-year lease deal in July to lease a building in Bladen County under an agreement approved by the Council of State, comprised of the governor and other statewide elected officials.

Division officials will try to find work for call center employees unable or unwilling to move south, spokeswoman Marge Howell said. The positions are expected to be phased in within a year.

The expected workload increase could create additional jobs in Raleigh, Howell said.