Registrar Officially Opens North Adams Branch

By Tammy Daniels
iBerkshires Staff
07:09PM / Saturday, December 06, 2008

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Mildred 'Dir' Giamborino

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — She was a couple weeks late, but the head of the Registry of Motor Vehicles drove into the city on Friday bearing gifts.

Registrar Rachel Kaprielian had been scheduled to officially open the RMV's new offices on Main Street on Nov. 24 but a series of manhole fires
in Boston early that morning affected the data lines and shut down the Registry's offices statewide.

Instead, the registrar and her workers lined up on Friday to ceremonially cut a red ribbon as the office continued to service customers — and that, said Kaprielian was important. "It's our first order of business."

Kaprielian also brought along a bag of food for the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts and a state House resolution recognizing the long service of Mildred "Dir" Giamborino, who has worked at the local Registry office for 26 years.

"You have met and greeted countless customers and helped with the innumerable kinds of problems and challenges and it's the people like Dir who make the Registry of Motor Vehicles family what it is," said Kaprielian as she presented Giamborino with the resolution.

Giamborino began working at the Registry in 1980 and retired a dozen years ago — only to return to work part time two years later.

Registrar Rachel Kaprielian presents Dir Giamborino with a House resolution sponsored by Rep. Daniel E. Bosley, D-North Adams

"I love the people. I really enjoy it," said Giamborino, who's 79.

This is about the fourth location at which she has worked and only yards away from where she started her Registry career on Center Street.

The new space was carved out of the first floor of the former Roberts Co. building on the corner of Main and Marshall streets. Owned by Scarafoni Associates, building's first floor has been sectioned off into several separate office spaces accessed by a corridor that cuts through the structure. Waterfront Media Group is located on the second floor.

While smaller than the Registry's last location at 420 Curran Highway (the former K-K Home Mart building), RMV officials say its new home is efficient and convenient.

"It's a great day ... when we can actually celebrate a brand-spanking new office," said Kaprielian, who added she was glad to return to "the furthest reaches of our Registry family." "We've got terrific customer flow, a place for customers to sit, and great break room ... and new carpet and new tile."

She thanked a number of people for their hard work and cooperation, including Scarafoni managing partner David Carver, local lawmakers, Mayor John Barrett III and, especially, Registry employees.

"You are the face and the soul of the Registry," said Karprielian. "I have heard many compliments on how well things flow here ... and the registrar loves short wait times."

The office has combined the licensing and registration windows so that employees no longer have to walk back and forth between the divisions, making their work area more efficient and reducing wait times. Western Region Director Joseph O'Neill also demonstrated the testing room for new drivers that has two stations with touch screens that ask a random 20 questions to each applicant.

"I love that licensing and registration is at the same counter," said employee Colleen Chaloux. "The office is much brighter, there are those nice photographs on the wall (by RMV employee Eric Warren)."

The branch is still doing a little adjusting in its new location. When it first opened in November, the office was closed from noon to 1 for lunch, a timing problem for residents trying to squeeze in business at the branch during their own lunch hours. Starting Monday, the office will close for lunch from 1 to 2 to better accommodate customers.

Kaprielian and Kim McMann of Food Bank of Western Mass

Anyone stopping in is welcome to bring a nonperishable food or cash donation for Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, one of three food banks the Registry is partnering with this year.

"I worked as a legislator with the Greater Boston Food bank on amendments over the years so I knew well what they do and the many hands that participate in their mission," said Kaprielian, who represented Watertown for seven terms.  "I felt it would be an appropriate way to partner during the holidays."

The Registry has been accepting donations since before Thanksgiving; Kaprielian said her own office volunteered to help pack boxes that will feed more than 2,000 people.

"It's really been eye-opening," she said. "People are really struggling this year. ... It's not necessarily people you see on the margins of life."

Kim McCann, the food bank's North Berkshire coordinator, said Kaprielian was right: "If you ride public transportation, you're probably sitting in the vicinity of someone who's struggling right now."

Last year, the regional food bank sent out 6.4 million pounds of food, not counting the hundreds of pounds more received through its partnership with local farms and food producers.

"That was the highest we've ever done in 25 years but the needs are greater this year, so we'll probably be sending out 6.5 mllion pounds," said McCann.

Karprielian said the response had been good and that the Registry expected to make a sizable contribution.

Motorists are reminded that the Registry will no longer be mailing renewal notices for licenses, inspections, registration and other warnings as a way to reduce costs. Expiration dates are listed on the documents; drivers' licenses, for example, expire on the holder's birthday. The policy went into effect on Nov. 3.