For the first time in four years, Leslie “Lovell” Ingol Jr. soon will be licensed to drive.
The Akron man’s driver’s license was suspended in 2012 for operating under the influence and failing to pay child support.
Fast forward to late 2016 and Ingol still owed more than $900 in fees to the court and Bureau of Motor Vehicles, an amount he found difficult to pay with his other monthly bills and the salary from his temporary job.
Ingol, though, paid off his debts last week and now needs to make an appointment to retake his driver’s test, the final step to getting his license back. He did so with the aid of his employer, a local judge and a group of attorneys who are mounting an effort to help the thousands of Summit County residents who — like Ingol — want to restore their driving privileges but struggle to navigate a cumbersome process and to pay their debts.
“I just want to better my life,” Ingol, 47, said. “I’m tired of moving around and going from job to job … By attaining my license, it allows me to finally have some stability in my life.”
Ingol isn’t alone in his license dilemma. In 2015, there were more than 3 million driver’s license suspensions statewide and nearly 221,000 in Summit County, with many involving drivers with multiple suspensions, according to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
Getting help
Ingol got on the path to getting his license back by mentioning his problem to Tom Fuller, the executive director of Alpha Phi Alpha Homes in Akron, where Ingol has been doing maintenance for 2½ years through a temporary service agency. Fuller wanted to hire Ingol full time, but he needed to have a driver’s license.
“We’re limited in terms of his function in the department,” Fuller said. “He’s not an employee. He doesn’t have driving privileges … We can only use him in certain areas.”
Fuller reached out to Summit County Common Pleas Judge Todd McKenney, whom he knew was involved in an effort with the Akron Bar Association and the University of Akron to help people who are struggling to get their licenses back.
McKenney, who lost in the Nov. 8 election and was in his waning days on the bench, took Ingol on as a test case.
“I wanted to push one through — to find out what is it going to take,” McKenney said. “It was harder than I thought.”
McKenney helped Ingol to navigate his way through the courts and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) to figure out the required steps for paying off the $925 he owed and then getting his license.
McKenney and Fuller found a local charitable organization willing to give Ingol a grant, which Ingol used to pay what he owed to the courts and BMV. Ingol obtained an SR-22 bond through an insurance company, a type of insurance required by the state for people whose licenses have been reinstated.
Ingol is hoping to get an appointment in the next week to retake the driving test he passed when he first got his license.
Assisting others
A new effort is aimed at connecting more people like Ingol with the help they need.
Volunteers Assisting Licensed Individual Drivers, VALID, is spearheaded by the Akron Bar Association’s Access to Justice Committee, the University of Akron’s Legal Clinic, and several other local agencies. It is an expansion of a program started by UA’s legal clinic to assist Akron-area residents who need help with expungements and/or getting driving privileges restored. That effort has helped 3,000 people since June 2013, including 900 in 2016.
For those with suspended licenses, UA law students and local attorneys lay out a road map of the steps they need to take. William Dowling, an Akron attorney helping with VALID, said this often involves five to six steps and dealing with several government agencies.
“It’s like tax law for poor people who can’t afford lawyers,” he said.
Dowling said another obstacle is the fees people must pay before getting their licenses back, which could amount to hundreds or even thousands of dollars if the person has had multiple suspensions for driving without a license or without insurance. He said many people may not realize payment plans are available with both the courts and BMV.
VALID hopes to capitalize on a time when many low-income residents get an extra chunk of money: tax time. The effort will encourage people who get the Earned Income Tax Credit — a tax credit based on income and number of children — to use the credit to pay off their driving debts.
Clinics will be offered to assist people who need help restoring their licenses in January, February, March and April. Separate clinics also will be held for those who need help with the Earned Income Tax Credit. Clinics for the two, related efforts will be offered at the same time on Feb. 11.
To prepare volunteers for the clinics, the bar association will have a training session for local attorneys from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday at the bar’s office, 57 S. Broadway.
A BMV representative will help with the attorney training session. BMV leaders say the agency often participates in outreach efforts like this.
“We take no joy in seeing people suspended,” said Dustyn Fox, a BMV spokesman. “We work hard to inform people of what they need to do to be compliant.”
On their way
VALID is hoping to identify funding sources to assist those who have difficulty paying their debts, but likely won’t have enough to help everyone who needs it. Instead, the effort’s leaders aims to provide something else.
“We offer hope,” said Joann Sahl, assistant director of UA’s legal clinic. “That is significant for people who have felt hopeless, with no path for success.”
Ingol is appreciative of the help he’s received. When he gets his license, he is looking forward to driving to Columbus to see one of his four daughters without worrying about getting pulled over.
Ingol thinks others who want to get their driving privileges restored should seek assistance like he did.
“I was blessed,” Ingol said. “There’s help out there. You have to find it — and reach for the right people.”
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705, swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com and on Twitter: @swarsmithabj .