Last Thursday (12/12), it was brought to Wayne County Clerk, Mike  Jankowski’s attention that there was a problem at the Wayne County Department of Motor Vehicles.

During the overnight, it appeared that the cleaning staff had thrown away a box of sales tax applications that were to be mailed to Albany the next day. Specifically, 239 people who paid sales tax in the month of November 2019 are affected. 

These forms contained personal identifiable information. “I feel it is my obligation to inform the public of this failure and notify individuals who were potentially affected by this unsafe disposal of documents. These forms were in a locked and secure area of the Department of Motor Vehicles and someone mistakenly thought they were trash and sent them to the landfill,” admitted Jankowski

The incident has been referred to the State Department of Motor Vehicles for a complete investigation. “I have directed my Office and staff to give the State Agents their complete cooperation. I am looking forward to finding the full details of what happened and will be working diligently to correct any and all actions that led to this event happening. I would like to apologize for this inconvenience and failure in the correct handling of these documents. You can be assured that I will work to make sure such a mistake is not able to happen in the future,” added the County Clerk.

On Thursday afternoon letters were sent out to each of the 239 affected individuals. If anyone has any questions regarding this matter, please feel free to contact the County Clerk at (315) 946-5986 or email mjankowski@co.wayne.ny.us.