When Lise Radder (pronounced Lisa) went into the North Augusta DMV office, she didn't experience what she expected. You may remember the long lines at DMV offices around the state. In September of 2002, the average wait time to get anything done at the DMV was 66 minutes.

But after state lawmakers and the governor restructured the agency, the average wait time statewide is now just 15 minutes.

Radder went in, got the paperwork she needed to renew her driver's license, filled it out, turned it in, got her picture taken and had her new license. She walked out of the office just eight minutes after she walked in.

The speed surprised her. "Yes. It does," she said, laughing. "It does. There was no line and nobody there, and I guess maybe I was just lucky with nobody there." 

But Gov. Mark Sanford says it's not luck, it's the result of the restructuring. He visited the same office shortly before Radder did. He's using the DMV as the "poster child" for how restructuring government can improve services, save time and money.

Now, he's turning his attention to restructuring the state's health care agencies, like the Department of Health and Environmental Control, Health and Human Services and Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services.

He held up a poster showing the services provided to one person for a month. "Seven different agencies talked to one patient in the course of a month," he said. "Why not have one?"

He points to a Legislative Audit Council report on the health care agencies which found administrative duplication. The governor wants to consolidate some of those functions, like budgeting and human resources, to save money.

"That means you actually have more money to spend on the ground in helping people get better in South Carolina. I think if you've got a trade-off between duplicative administration and more direct spending on health care, it's a no-brainer," he says.

He says restructuring would also provide more accountability. Right now, the governor has no direct control over most of those agencies. That means if there's a problem, there's not much any elected official can do about it.

The governor's restructuring plan is part of his "Contract for Change" that he announced this week and will be sending to state lawmakers when they return in January.