The Warrenton Chamber of Commerce will take over management of the local driver license and vehicle registration office beginning this month.License offices in Missouri are operated by independent contractors that compete for the management contracts through a bidding process.“We are responsible for the employees, we’re responsible for the process,” said Warrenton Chamber Executive Director Jan Olearnick. “It’s still state mandated. All the regulations, we can’t change. (The state) just contracts out somebody to oversee it.”The Warrenton office will remain at its current location on Veterans Memorial Parkway for the time being. Olearnick said the Chamber will be making improvements to the interior, including new carpeting and a fresh coat of paint. She speculated that after a few years, the office might be moved to a new location nearby.The Chamber will officially take over the license office March 20 and hold the contract until January 2023, Olearnick said. The office will be closed for two days, March 20 and 21, for Chamber staff to take inventory and get introduced to the office.Olearnick said she wants to hear from people who have had past experiences with the license office, both positive and negative, so that the new leadership can learn from them.“Either we’re going to celebrate the really good experiences and capitalize on that, or we’re going to accept the bad experiences as challenges to make it better,” Olearnick said. “Our customers are our neighbors. We’re going to treat them with the respect and dignity that they deserve.”The previous contracted manager for the Warrenton office, Wentzville Agency Management LLC, did not compete for the contract this year, Olearnick said. She explained that presented the opportunity for local people who have a vested interest in the community to oversee the office.Warrenton license office