For all the convenience that Washington Department of Licensing officials predict their closure of the Driver’s License office on Auburn Way North will present to Auburn patrons, to date the state appears to have done little to pave the way for all that convenience, local officials say.

And with the March 27 closure two weeks away, and the redirection of some 60,000 patrons a year to offices in Kent, Puyallup, and Federal Way looming, people are irked.

For one thing, said 47th District Rep. Patrick Sullivan, D-Covington, who has bird dogged the issue since he first learned of the DOL’s plans to close 25 driver licensing offices statewide, the state has not yet even chosen vendors for the kiosks it has promised to set up for convenient online license renewal at the sites.

“They say they will rely on kiosks, but they they don’t have any contracts with kiosk vendors,” Sullivan said. “Every vendor you choose will charge a fee. I asked about how they are going to take care of people with vision problems online, and they said they are looking into software. They are talking about having more people renew their licenses on line. But less than 3 percent of the people in Auburn service area renew online. I was so frustrated after my meeting with them because I really felt they were not prepared to take this step.”

Selena Davis, a spokeswoman for the DOL, said Tuesday that the kiosks may actually be computer stations allowing Internet access, and vendors aren’t needed to set those up.

She said the state plans to extend weekday hours, keep the other offices open all day Saturday and provide conveniences like greeters and Internet access. But she conceded the state ha no plans to expand the Kent office to accommodate the new customers who will augment the 70,000 that already visit that site each year.

And no plans to expand any of the other local offices either, Davis said. She said any physical expansion would depend on where most of the Auburn people go, and that will not be known for months.

Sullivan said there can be but one outcome to that.

“Extended hours will not be enough to accommodate that number of customers,” Sullivan said. “If you cram that many people in there, I guarantee you, there will be an overload. Can you imagine the first month after this happens? There will be utter chaos.”

Sullivan does not accept the DOL’s official rationale, that this is all about cost cutting.

“…They say this is about budget reduction, but it’s primarily about government efficiency,” Sullivan said. “It saves very little money, and I don’t see where it makes things any more convenient.”

Auburn Mayor Pete Lewis is seething because the DOL has given the Eastern Washington city of Walla Walla an 18-month extension on the closure of the office there to accommodate patrons who may have a hard time getting to the alternative location during the long winter months. Just because Walla Walla asked, he said.

“Where’s Auburn’s time extension?” Lewis asked.

Won’t Auburn residents have their own hard time getting to Kent, Puyallup and Federal Way in adverse weather and in the teeth of congested traffic, he asked.

He said his questions have fallen on deaf ears.

“Under no circumstances, there’s no extensions, there’s no nothing,” Lewis said. “They will not do anything for Auburn. They won’t answer why. I am asking all the citizens of Auburn to notify the state and we are providing the governor’s phone number, e-mail and written addresses. I think we deserve the same extension Walla Walla got. The DOL needs to hear from the Auburn community that this is not acceptable.”

Said Auburn City Councilwoman Sue Singer: “It’s very unfortunate that they are not closing an office some place where the majority of people have Internet access. That’s their whole excuse, that people just do it on the computer now. Well, then you don’t close an office where only half the people have Internet access!”

“I don’t think there was any other reason to close that office other than that the lease was up,” Lewis said.