Priority
of recording seems to be an issue. This is being discussed by the
Legal Subcommittee but the public needs to be educated and understand
this clearly when they partake in the process.
Searching
is very important to the banking community. There is an assumption
that if a document is recorded electronically it can then be searched
electronically. If this is not the case throughout Minnesota then the
private sector needs to understand this. If this will become possible
in another phase they need to know that also.
Searching
could include: tax leans, mechanic’s lean, divorce lean, etc.
Susan
Dioury – Minnesota Realtors
Issues
of particular importance for realtors: 1, 13 &14
The
documents that primarily come from realtors to Title Companies are:
CRV, Well Certificate and Purchase Order.
Digital
signature will be the biggest issue to be dealt with. Minnesota’s
standard should be the "Microsoft" of digital signature
standards. Will it be digital, digitized, PKI and encrypted or some
other type. Does the buyer and the seller agree on what signature
platform to use. Can one use a digitized / encrypted platform while
the other uses a digital pen?
Searching
is also a concern. Looking most often for tax leans and legal
descriptions. Again, if this is recorded electronically there is an
expectation that it can be retrieved via a search electronically.
Consultants
need to ask:
How
much would you be using in the electronic fashion?
What
information do you want to search for?
Document
workflow for recording deeds, mortgages and Sats is very different
from one another, is the creation of these documents to get them filed
different?
Bonnie
Rehder – County Recorder – Clay County
Searching
is almost an entire project in itself. Each county has their own rules
and methods of indexing by grantor/grantee or tract. Methods range
from writing in books to complex proprietary databases. It would be a
big project to standardize indexing. We could consider working forward
from a given date. It wouldn't be easy to set standards. It would be
VERY expensive to make historical data standardized. Some of these
ideas are part of a dream list.
If
standards for indexing are made, the sooner they are made, the more
information that would be entered in a standard format. However, a
searcher would still need to know each counties old rules when looking
at prior data. It might be easier to review the rules of each county
before searching and know that all the data from the county would be
using those rules.
The
recording priority of documents is going to be an issue. In Clay
County the customer at the counter has priority. They made the effort
to come to the counter to make sure their documents made it through
the process with no problems. The mail and drop-offs have second
priority. Documents are numbered and timed when the money is receipted
into the system. Each county has their own procedures.
Some
documents require review and signatures from other county departments.
These departments could be Auditor's Office, Treasurer's Office,
Planning & Zoning, & etc. Consultants should gather this
information when interviewing.
Some
counties enter parcel ID numbers on some documents (deeds), some
counties enter parcel ID numbers on all documents. Sometimes these
parcel ID numbers are considered Tax Parcel ID numbers and sometimes
they're not. These parcel ID numbers sometimes relate to where the
land is located in the county. Some counties enter this information
into their databases for searching.
Standardizing
fees for copies or searches will be an interesting challenge. How will
fees be established? Fees could be charged by hit, the printed page, a
flat rate and many other variations. Fees for copies presently range
from $.10 per page to $5. Copy fees are set by the County Board of
Commissioners.
Clay
County is concerned about open searching by name. A local website
allows searching by name which permitted an individual access to the
address of a police officer. The police officer has been harassed
because this information was available.
In
these notes I am presenting county variations of rules, methods,
policies and procedures. These statements are for the purpose of
discussion and not to say I am in favor or against any of the ideas.
Consulting
Questions
When
looking at county workflow make sure to note if another division must
review a record before recording it. In Otter Tail the Planning and Zoning
division reviews real estate records first. Note these types of
exceptions.
Ask
if the county charges fees for searching (if system is electronic), what
types of searches and how much is the fee?
Minnesota Legislature