'I know I’m going to miss it' — Bonnie Alfred says goodbye as License Bureau supervisor

WOOSTER – On her penultimate day at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles on March 24, Bonnie Alfred can be found at her post, attending to the daily minutiae of license renewal.

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Alfred, the License Bureau supervisor, is set to retire after 45 years of service. Behind the glass, balloons hang from the ceiling, and two large gold balloons shaped like a 4 and a 5 are affixed to the wall beyond the counter.

Cookies are on hand in the back room; snickerdoodles, chocolate chip and cut-outs decorated to look like Ohio license plates, others in the shape of cars. The license plate cookies bear messages like “RETIRED” and “OUTOHERE” in blue frosting.

“I know I’m going to miss it,” Alfred says about her job. She’s a people person, she adds, noting that she’s made friendships through her work. She became particularly close with the ex-assistant manager, Carolyn Modarelli, she says They’d go painting at The Dirty Olive Grill whenever they held painting nights.

Started as title clerk at Apple Creek Motors in 1977

Alfred got her start in 1977, working as a title clerk at Apple Creek Motors. This was before the License Bureau became a government office operated by Wayne County. According to Wayne County Auditor Jarra Underwood, most counties use deputy registrars — independent contractors issuing licenses and plates on behalf of the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles. This is how Alfred spent her first 12 years on the job, employed by companies contracted to do the work.

Eventually, Apple Creek Motors got the contract to issue license plates as well. Back in those days, she says, you had to enter all of the pertinent information via typewriter. If you made any mistakes, you had to start over.

Plates were only issued two months out of the year. The first month was reserved for people whose last names started with the letters A-L; the second month for those with last names beginning with M-Z.

“At that time, they didn’t take checks or anything other than cash, not even from companies,” said Alfred.

Next, they made the move to working at Value Center on old highway 30. After the backroom “burned a little,” Alfred says, and they moved to working out of the back of an old chain of department stores called Mr. Wiggs. This was when Sue Ann Fouche was Wayne County Auditor, Alfred recalls.

After a few more location changes, and one more fire (their office in Universal Sports), the License Bureau eventually came to rest in its current location on Vanover Street.

The biggest change to the job has been the introduction of computers, Alfred says. With that modernization came new challenges. The introduction of the federally required driver’s license complicated the process. Before you didn’t need nearly as much documentation to renew your license. If someone who recently married wanted to change their name on their ID, she says, you could just tell the clerk that and they’d change it.

Remembering staff dressing up for Halloween

Normally, the staff dresses up for Halloween. In her desk, Alfred has envelopes full of pictures of her co-workers in their costumes. From the envelope, she draws out a few photos and lays them on her desk, pointing out Underwood in one of them. In another, Alfred is dressed as Mimi from "The Drew Carey Show." The picture has been turned into a sign instructing customers to wait and take a number.

The Halloween costumes have been put on hold due to how busy things have been the past few years, she said. There have been other changes as well, brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Alfred, people became short with the staff during the crisis, expecting more than could realistically be delivered. This change in attitude motivated her decision to retire somewhat, but mostly, she said she’s just tired.

Plans to take classes to train to be a volunteer hospice caretaker

In her retirement she plans to begin taking classes in April to train her how to be a volunteer hospice caretaker.

“My husband had cancer,” Alfred says, “and I know how important it is for somebody to come in and give the caregivers a break. I just feel I need to do that.”

Underwood says she’ll miss Alfred, whom she’s known since they attended Triway High School together.

“Bonnie rules. There’s nobody in this whole state who knows the laws and rules, and takes care of customers like she does,” Underwood says.

When asked if there are any highlights of the job she’d like to share, Alfred relays the unexpected.

“We had one guy threaten to drive his semi through the window,” she says, “because we wouldn’t give him something. I have kind of a sarcastic nature, and I said, well how are you going to make that turn? And he just turned around and walked out.”

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Wayne County License Bureau supervisor issues her retirement