State government foul-up puts brakes on trucking company

From the Alamogordo Daily News - By Milan Simonich - SANTA FE -- Gov. Susana Martinez talks all the time about creating a business-friendly state. This week she learned that her own administration caused roadblocks for a small trucking company that had just made a major investment. The problem, a routine title transfer for a new $143,000 semi-trailer, took more than two weeks to complete. The truck could not be driven all that time, putting J.A.P.S. Freight Lines in a financial bind. "I've got a $2,500 payment coming due for a truck that I haven't been able to get on the road. The downtime is terrible for us," said Joe A. Parra, owner of the company. He and his business partner, Elizabeth Sosa, said dealing with state government was a maddening experience. Desperate to obtain the vehicle title he needed to do business, Parra said he traveled to state Motor Vehicle Division offices in Las Cruces, Albuquerque and Santa Fe. He left each one empty-handed. So problematic was this title transfer that the governor's staff eventually phoned Sosa to assure her that the problem would be corrected. It finally was on Thursday, two days after that call from the top office in state government. Mark Williams, director of the state Motor Vehicle Division, said his agency fumbled this case.  "It should not have happened," Williams said in an interview. Read more

State government foul-up puts brakes on trucking company