Part of what makes a great place to live is quality — or ease — of navigating governmental red tape.

In Arkansas, we hafta have our automobiles assessed at the county level every year before we can have our license tags renewed. In the old days, that was an absolute nightmare.

These days, we get to renew online.

Except this time, I was knocked off my bed with this lousy viral infection and I’m 6 days late with my renewal.

So today, I called the Sebastian County Assessor’s office and re-assessed on the phone. The nice lady said she’d drop the paperwork in the mail and I cringed as I asked please could she fax it to me. To my delight, she happily complied. Immediately.

I thought, “This is too easy,” as I walked across the street to the state office building. I signed myself in at 3:00 straight up, went to the Arkansas Department of Finance and Authority, walked right in, sat right down, and paid my $25 something bucks. The woman behind the counter was also extremely helpful and even smiled at me as I walked out. I signed out of the building at 3:04 and was back in my office in less than 15 minutes.

Before I left the parking lot tonight, my stickers were on my license plate.

Customer service at the county and state-wide level — even though I was a little late in getting my act together.

Now, if I could just talk somebody into washing my car before the next wave of winter weather hits… 😉