Nevada County Clerk-Recorder To No Longer Accept Passport Applications

"Nevada County Clerk-Recorder Gregory J. Diaz announced today a regulation from the United States Department of State will halt the Nevada County Clerk-Recorder from being a passport acceptance facility. The Nevada County Clerk-Recorder will no longer accept passport applications on November 30, 2011."

"Diaz said the regulation, as part of the Federal Passport Acceptance Program, prohibits facilities that issue birth records from being an approved passport acceptance facility- a location where residents apply for passports. After residents fill out their applications, the paperwork is sent on to the United States Passport Services, who ultimately issues the passports."

"Regrettably and as a practical matter, since we are required by state law to continue to process birth certificates, the Nevada County Clerk-Recorder will cease operating as a passport acceptance agency on November 30th, 2011. The closest passport acceptance agency is at the Auburn Post Office located at 371 Nevada Street, Auburn California."

A copy of the press release dated October 28, 2011, from Diaz is on Yubanet and can be found here.

Actually and what Diaz does not want the public to know is that the closest passport acceptance facilities to Nevada City are the Grass Valley Post Office and then Placer County Recorder's office.

We need real leaders in this County that will work together and collaborate to find solutions to problems. Greg Diaz is not one of those people. Much like Nate Beason, who mightily supported Greg Diaz in last year's election, Diaz is a "my way or the highway" kind of person.

While we will continue to dig deeper into the passport issue, a collaborative solution is readily available, if Diaz was remotely competent and collaborated with others.

First and according to the folks at the Placer County Recorder, the Placer County Recorder's office change operations significantly to satisfy the new regulations, but they did it to continue to provide the passport service. Greg Diaz -lazy? Probably.

Second and has been done in Minnesota and Iowa, instead of forcing folks to drive the Placer County Recorder's office, the County could have requested the Auditor's office or maybe Nevada City to become a passport acceptance facility.

Third and another solution that would be great for the community, the Helling Library could become a passport acceptance facility. A passport facility gets paid $25 per application and would provide much needed revenue for the library. Given the revenue to the library would not be a lot, but this solution does provide some revenue to the library and folks would not have to drive to the Placer County Recorder's office.

We need smart and competent government. We need community-minded elected officials that will find solutions through collaboration with the public before making rash decisions.

This is yet another example of the failure of government to think out of the box.