Davis County Commission commends workers for handling rush of passport processing

FARMINGTON — Davis County commissioners on Tuesday commended the efforts of county workers for their relatively quick processing of passports, despite a rush caused by a pending increase in passport fees.

The increase of $35 for adult passport processing and $25 for children, took effect Tuesday. But people trying to get passports at the lower fee caused the processing figure at the courthouse to jump to about 140 on Friday — about double the amount of a previous high — and to 246 processed on Monday.

Clerk/Auditor Steve Rawlings said cross-trained employees from various departments allowed as many as 15 people to help with the processing, and the clerk's office had expanded processing time beyond the typical afternoon hours. The most anyone had to wait for processing was about 15 minutes.

Commission vice chairwoman Louenda Downs described the wait as "phenomenally short." Commission Chairman John Petroff Jr. said the work was "a tremendous job" and "an outstanding job."

"I'm sure," Petroff said, "that most people went away thinking, 'Well, that wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.'"

— Brice Wallace