EMPLOYEE SOUNDED RMV

Email sent to pols cites

An employee at the Registry of Motor Vehicles’ Merit Rating Board was raising concerns about inadequate staffing in 2016 — when the board was soon to be handed responsibility for processing out-of-state violations and issuing license suspensions, emails obtained by the Herald show.

Merit Rating Board Supervisor Donna Brennan sent an email on May 31, 2016, sounding the alarm on numerous “critical positions” that had not been filled for at least a year, which was cc’d to the offices of Gov. Charlie Baker, Attorney General Maura Healey, former Registrar Erin Deveney and others. The same message was forwarded on June 5, 2016, to Secretary of State William Galvin’s office and members of the House and Senate.

“Clearly, the Commonwealth is failing in its duty here — by not filling the positions that have been vacated,” Brennan wrote. “The Commonwealth is needlessly compromising the ability of the Merit Rating Board to accomplish its work.”

Just about a month later, Merit Board Rating Director Thomas Bowes was hired. Bowes has since come under scrutiny and has even been called on to resign for his role in the agency’s failure to keep up with out-ofstate violation notices. The responsibility was transferred under his oversight from the Driver Control Unit in the fall of 2016, after a backlog of approximately 10,000 out-of-state notifications were found in 72 boxes.

The Merit Rating Board initially began processing out-of-state violations, but

STUART CAHILL PHOTOS / HERALD STAFF COMMUNICATION GAP: Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack watches as the former head of the state’s Registry of Motor Vehicles Erin Deveney, also seen opposite page, speaks at a legislative oversight hearing on Wednesday. RMV headquarters, below, is seen in Quincy.