RALEIGH — North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles Chief Wayne Goodwin confirmed to lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee last week that he would not reapply for his post despite making statements earlier this month that he would seek to keep his job.
Goodwin, a former N.C. Commissioner of Insurance and chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party, has been head of the state DMV since 2022. Former Gov. Roy Cooper appointed him to turn the agency around after the pandemic. Goodwin is required to reapply for his post, which pays $163,000 annually.
The departure comes amid legislative scrutiny of the job Goodwin has done as well as a sweeping audit of his agency’s spending announced earlier this month by N.C. Auditor Dave Boliek.
When appointed, Goodwin promised more efficiency with appointment scheduling, greater transparency and shorter wait times. Over the course of multiple legislative oversight hearings, he has pointed to some progress in wait times and appointment availability being made by certain offices operating on Saturdays and putting self-service kiosks inside a handful of grocery stores.
Goodwin has, however, faced criticism, including for state ID delays that led to six-week waits versus the typical 15 days. Goodwin blamed a vendor for those problems during a June 2024 oversight hearing.
The June hearing was just one held by lawmakers last year that focused on the DMV’s operations. A hearing last March focused on appointment scheduling and long customer wait times.
Erin Paré (R-Wake) visited a short-staffed DMV location in Fuquay-Varina last July and was unimpressed, calling the operations “completely unacceptable.”
The most recent House Oversight Committee meeting at which Goodwin appeared was on Feb. 27. The heads of multiple state agencies were called on to testify before the committee that day, including Secretary of Revenue McKinley Wooten Jr., Controller Nels Roseland, Budget Director Kristin Walker, Treasurer Brad Briner and Secretary of Transportation Joey Hopkins.
The committee’s co-chair, Rep. Brenden Jones (R-Columbus), asked Goodwin about his recent resignation decision.
“The position of DMV commissioner does not have a term. It is hired,” Goodwin said. “It serves (at the) pleasure of the secretary and the governor. And I indicated that I would not reapply for the position given that there are various positions being posted with the new administration of the new governor.”
Goodwin — under pressure from Jones, who called the DMV a “failure” and “one of the most dysfunctional agencies in state government” — indicated he will stay on in the role until a replacement is installed and pushed back on Jones’ assertion that he was poised to “bail on” the division.
“Well, first of all, I didn’t bail. I decided not to reapply,” said Goodwin. “There’s no guarantee that I would be selected. So I didn’t bail on something.”
Jones countered, saying, “I feel like you would have been selected again” and asked Goodwin if he thought his performance “would have the merits of being selected again?” Goodwin replied, “Yes, that’s my opinion.”
Other lawmakers on the committee spent time grilling Goodwin about his agency’s struggles.
Rep. Eric Ager (D-Buncombe) said that while DMV staff had helped him and his staff resolve some constituent issues, there are still problems.
“(My brother) spent six hours in the DMV, and that was, you know, frustrating to them,” said Ager.
Goodwin said the appointment system was helping with wait times.
“It is working better in terms of the appointments,” Goodwin said. “The appointments are very popular and there’s only so many 20-minute time blocks in the given day. The Insurance commissioner does not have the power or the authority to add more minutes to a day. Only God Almighty can do that.”
