JOHN DAY — Getting a driver’s license in Grant County is going to require a little more planning.

Beginning Monday, Nov. 13, the John Day office of the Oregon Driver and Motor Vehicle Services Division — the only one in the county — will be cutting back its office hours from five days a week to two.

The new hours will be 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesdays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursdays. The office will be closed from 12:30 to 2 p.m. each day for lunch.

Located at 193 N. Canyon Blvd., the John Day office is currently open Monday through Friday.

The reason for the cutback is simple, according to DMV spokesperson Michelle Godfrey: The agency just doesn’t have enough people to do the job.

“It’s just kind of a statewide issue,” she said. “We’re short-staffed all over. … We have to reduce hours sometimes to accommodate that.”

As of Nov. 13, the DMV will no longer have any local employees available to staff the John Day office, Godfrey said. On Wednesdays and Thursdays, DMV workers from other offices will travel to John Day to provide in-person service. Road closures and bad weather can sometimes make travel impossible for those employees, however, so potential customers are advised to check OregonDMV.com to make sure the office is open before stopping by.

The nearest DMV offices to Grant County are in Burns, Baker City, Ontario and Prineville.

The agency hopes to be able to restore five-day-a-week service in John Day at some point, Godfrey said, but it’s not clear when that might happen. Like many other employers these days, the DMV has had difficulty attracting and retaining workers.

“Ideally, we’d like to do that,” Godfrey said. “It’s going to be dependent on our recruitment and getting people trained.”

However, she noted, getting someone hired and trained in all the intricacies of serving the driving public generally takes about six months.

“It’s a complicated job,” she said.

People who have business with the DMV but can’t come in on Wednesday or Thursday — or who want to avoid waiting in line — can complete many common DMV transactions online.

To see which transactions can be handled over the internet — and which still need to be done in person — visit DMV2U.oregon.gov.