Grand Traverse County clerk to offer LiveScan fingerprinting July 1

Grand Traverse County residents who need fingerprints for work, licensing or a background check will have a new local option July 1, when the clerk’s office begins LiveScan service at the Grand Traverse County Governmental Center. The change gives job seekers, nurses, teachers, childcare workers and volunteers a county-run place to handle a step that can hold up hiring, renewal paperwork or clearance checks.

Until now, the county’s fingerprinting FAQ said neither the Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Office nor the Grand Traverse County Jail offered public fingerprinting services. Residents were directed to outside providers, including IdentoGO and Third Coast Identity in Traverse City, where Third Coast Identity is listed at 1776 S. Garfield Avenue and (231) 715-1532. For people trying to fit fingerprinting around a shift schedule, child care or a licensing deadline, that meant another appointment system and, in some cases, another trip outside the county office.

The clerk already handles fingerprinting for concealed pistol license applicants. The county’s new CPL application page says those prints are taken during regular business hours from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., while the CPL renewal page lists fingerprinting from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Renewal applicants pay $115 total, which includes a $15 fingerprint fee.

Other fingerprint requests still follow separate county rules. Court-ordered fingerprinting appointments can be scheduled, with a $12 booking fee, and people seeking to set aside a conviction must be fingerprinted on a Michigan RI-008 card and pay $50 at the time of printing.

Grand Traverse County, which describes itself as the largest county in Northern Michigan, has been pushing more routine services into one local place. For residents who previously had to sort through outside vendors or court-only appointments, the new LiveScan option turns a county errand into a single stop at the Governmental Center.