TRANSPORTATION MATTERS for IOWA

During a year of transition, our driver’s license and identification service center consultants really stepped up, but one in particular stood out. Marcus McClanahan, a consultant (formerly known as driver’s license examiner) from the Ankeny center was named Iowa’s Examiner of the Year as noted by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators.

In his nomination, McClanahan, a 14-year Iowa DOT veteran, was touted as having a strong dedication to his team in Ankeny. The nomination said, “Marcus steps up to help his team by training new employees for noncommercial, commercial, and motorcycle testing. In his training work, he emphasizes highway safety, teamwork, and brings ideas forward for service center efficiencies.”

Darcy Doty, director of the Motor Vehicle Division’s Customer Service Bureau, said, “In addition to his examiner responsibilities, Marcus seeks out ways to collaborate with fellow coworkers to better serve the public. He volunteers when his supervisor asks for someone to cover additional duties, contributes to highway safety initiatives, and is a leader in keeping employees safe. Marcus often takes on additional projects to help improve workflow, training of new employees on administrative tasks, and assisting customers with complex needs. He creates training presentations and works to make sure new employees have accurate information to help them be successful.”

Marcus McClanahan (left) working with an instructor from a CDL training school.

McClanahan said, “My favorite part of my job is the training aspect. I love being able to work with coworkers from across the state. It is really rewarding seeing the transitions of those that we are training. It’s beyond gratifying to see the look on their face when they really start to understand the training, and everything starts to click and make sense.

While 2020 was a challenging year, our focus was squarely on safely testing drivers to make sure transportation companies had safe drivers. To that end, McClanahan conducted 772 skills tests for customers seeking an Iowa driver’s license.

Safety is at the heart of all we do, and McClanahan exemplifies that focus. He said, “I definitely believe that our job impacts public safety directly. We all know the general way that we impact public safety by keeping ill-equipped drivers off the roadways. We did have an opportunity see a different kind of impact during COVID-19. We were tasked with coming up with a way to conduct the CDL skills testing so that we could help get drivers on the road so that they could help deliver personal protective equipment throughout the country. So, we definitely impact the safety of the roadways both in the traditional sense and even some things that might go unnoticed.”

Doty said, “Marcus is an excellent example of how to demonstrate resiliency throughout the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. We congratulate him on him being named Iowa Examiner of the Year. Marcus is a role model for his fellow colleagues in Ankeny and across the state of Iowa and embodies the DOT’s core values of safety first, people matter, customer focus, and servant leadership in everything he does.