By Rob Phillips
The Cincinnati Enquirer

WEST CHESTER TWP. - Residents of West Chester soon will have a one-stop shop to handle their vehicle licensing and titling, through part of a new pilot program.

The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) recently selected the West Chester Title Office as one of the first locations for a limited authority deputy registrar program.

The program, passed in 2001 as a part of Senate Bill 59, aims to combine features of the BMV and the Clerk of Courts office.

The BMV expects to start the program sometime in February.

In the past, the BMV offices handled license plates and the Clerk of Courts dealt with titles.

"We have a huge concentration of people who own multiple vehicles ... and, unfortunately, they have to go to several different places to get all their paperwork done," said state Rep. Gary Cates, R-West Chester.

Under the new program, the West Chester office can issue titling transactions, registration transfers, temporary placards, out-of-state inspections and complete registration applications.

Mr. Cates and Butler County Clerk of Courts Cindy Carpenter petitioned the state to allow West Chester be one of the first participants in the project.

"We know that the West Chester citizens are underserved because there is no deputy registrar located in their shopping and traveling areas," Ms. Carpenter said.

The program will be located in the West Chester Title Office on Smith Road, within one block of an Ohio E-Check facility.