Licenses will soon be available at Ramsey City Hall

Ramsey residents and others will be able to get licenses for driving, vehicles, fishing and hunting next summer at the Ramsey City Hall.

An Anoka County License Center will be relocated there from its present site on Hwy. 10 in Ramsey under a plan approved Friday by the Anoka County Board.

The city and county still must negotiate final lease details, said Paula Anderson, co-manager of the county's five license centers. She said the new location will offer safer access than the present location in a Hwy. 10 shopping strip.

The move also will allow residents to obtain vehicle and city licenses or services in one trip, said Heidi Nelson, deputy city administrator.

"It's a unique pairing, a place to get government services at a one-stop shop," Nelson said. "This is another layer of convenience to residents."

She said the city plans to lease the county 2,200 square feet for a first-floor office at the west end of City Hall, next to the city parking ramp. The county has agreed to pay Ramsey annual rent of $43,460 for five years. The county could renew the lease for 15 more years.

"We think it is a better location," said Deputy County Administrator David Minke. "It has better access and parking, and we get a little more space for about the same amount of money."

The money would come from city facilities construction funds. The office space is currently occupied by city planning and finance staff who will be relocated elsewhere in City Hall, Nelson said.

The county's nine-year lease for its current office expires in June, and the new license center at City Hall will open July 1, Anderson said.

"We are pretty much bursting at the seams here," Anderson said of the current location. She said about five years ago the Ramsey center began handling driver's license renewals, which brings a lot of people who line up in the small lobby area. The new location will have hall space and public restrooms, she said.

"I think it will be a good marriage between the city and county," she added. "It will be helpful for Ramsey and Anoka County residents."

She said customers coming from Hwy. 10 would have to take Armstrong or Ramsey boulevards past Town Center businesses to Sunwood Drive, where City Hall is located. That should expose them to more businesses.