More than a year after an official announcement was made, the deal finally is sealed — the East Lansing Secretary of State branch is closing.
The East Lansing office, located at 400 Albert St., is slated to close Feb. 4 and merge with another local branch set to open as a SUPER!Center on Feb. 11 near the Frandor Shopping Center.
But at least one lawmaker is crying foul on what he called a duplicitous plan.
State Rep. Mark Meadows, D-East Lansing, is heavily criticizing the move. First introduced by former Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land in November 2009, it was presented as a way to better offer services offered by the department.
A bill passed by the House last spring would have prevented mergers of numerous Secretary of State branches across the state. It never cleared the Senate.
“I believe it will inconvenience students,” Meadows said of the closure. “The center of population on campus is much closer to the East Lansing location.”
Secretary of State spokesman Fred Woodhams said the move will be of greater convenience to students because the SUPER!Center will offer a variety of updated services, including a station to quickly update license plate tags. Saturday hours also are expected to be part of the center’s hours of operation.
Shayne Ballou, an MSU zoology senior, said he is not upset by news of the East Lansing location’s closing. He said the new location will offer a larger space and is not too far away.
“I think the move might be a positive,” Ballou said.
Woodhams said transactions at the East Lansing location have declined in recent years. There are about 114,000 in the 2009 fiscal year from 149,000-plus in fiscal year 2002.
“That’s due to the increasing number of people doing their businesses online,” Woodhams said, adding the department’s offering of numerous online services has necessitated fewer physical branches across the state.
“It’s about maximizing the department’s resources, and also it’s a way to expand services in branch offices.”
But Meadows said in addition to students being inconvenienced, residents of the downtown Lansing area who might not have a car or Internet service have to trek farther to the new center.
The lawmaker also alleged that Secretary of State officials created a deceptive plan that made it appear as though the merger would save tens of thousands of dollars.
In documents obtained by The State News through Meadows’ office, two separate consolidation plans contain figures offering different takes on savings created by the plan.
An estimate released in late 2009 said consolidating the locations would save $2,200, a number made up primarily by reduced annual costs by merging branches.
Another estimate delivered to Meadows’ office with a letter dated Dec. 29 — when his office was closed, Meadows said — said upwards of $50,000 would be saved.
The initial estimate lists the East Lansing location’s annual costs at more than $74,000 and the Lansing location’s at $52,860. The estimate left with Meadows’ office late last month pegs the East Lansing location’s costs at nearly $79,000 and downtown Lansing’s at more than $144,000.
Woodhams said the latter estimate for Lansing’s branch takes into account the fact that different offices of the Secretary of State were in the same location.
It also contains accurate estimates for a new location, which was not contained on the earlier estimate.
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Meadows said the difference was intentional to create a cost rationalization for merging the two branches. He also said moving costs and buying out the remainder of each location’s leases will be costly.
Although Meadows did not support the decision, the merger is set to happen. The SUPER!Center is slated to be located at 3315 E. Michigan Ave., Woodhams said.
