MRC warns of increased wait times at local SAAQ office

MRC warns of increased wait times at local SAAQ office

MRC Pontiac issued a press release on April 26 warning of longer wait times at the license bureau (SAAQ) in Campbell’s Bay, which is housed in the MRC office. The cause of the wait times is due to short staffing. They ask that at this time, residents use the SAAQ’s online service portal whenever possible.

MRC human resources director Annie Vaillancourt explained in an email that the change in software that took place earlier this year had an impact on their ability to train employees. In addition, they had one of their staff depart last week, leaving them with one trained employee for the time being.

“The change in software did have an impact since we were many months without any training available,” she wrote. “But we had 2 employees trained and working and a third one waiting to start training, which she has started on Monday. It will be a few weeks before she can serve clients on her own. And just last week, one of our fully trained employees left the MRC. We now have one person serving clients at this time which is creating longer wait times.”

Vaillancourt said that they have another person starting Monday who will begin training as soon as possible. She said that they aim to always have three people trained to work at the office at all times and estimated that in the best case scenario, they will be fully staffed by the end of the summer.

“We normally don’t have this issue, it is really due to the software change,” she concluded.