MINUTES OF COMMITTEE ON THE COMPUTERIZATION OF LAND RECORDS
Tuesday, July 28, 1998

Unapproved

PRESENT:

• John Cushing
• John Howland
• Jim Knapp
• Pattie McCoy
• Mardee Sanchez
• Gregory Sanford

Chair John Cushing called the meeting to order at 9:30 a.m.. On motion of Pattie McCoy and second by Jim Knapp the minutes of the July 7th meeting were accepted.

Gregory Sanford reported on his survey of what other New England states are doing toward the computerization of their land records. He noted his July 21st memo summarizing the results of the survey to date and passed out examples of:

• Connecticut's law allowing the imaging of land records, along with the Connecticut Public Record Administrator's analysis of the law , the Administrator's list of policies, and the policy on optical imaging.
• Maine State Archives' rules on the disposition of local government records, including approved media for records storage.

Sanford summarized his findings by noting that:

• with the possible exception of Rhode Island (awaiting word from the Rhode Island state archivist), all the New England states have begun the computerized indexing of their land records.
• CT, MA, ME, NH are in various stages of moving toward scanning land records.
• some Massachusetts registrars of deeds are making scanned documents available on-line through a for fee subscription service; in NH a vendor will be selling indices/scanned documents on CD's; CT is beginning to experiment with remote access, with one town implementing a dial-in service.
• information is incomplete, but it appears most of the indexing and scanning projects are funded either through recording and other fees or through a combination of fees and vendor agreements.
• CT, ME, and NH are moving toward keeping only electronic version of land records or an electronic version with a microfilm copy made off the scanned documents as a preservation copy. All the records people he talked to expressed various degrees of discomfort with relying solely on electronic versions, at least for the near future, until questions about the long term costs can be addressed based on experience.
• each of the state contacts that responded (awaiting word from Massachusetts) is waiting for enactment comprehensive state digital signature laws which are seen as necessary for the electronic filing of land records. NH courts recognize digital signatures (though a digital signature bill died this last session) and CT recognizes digital signatures in the area of medical records.
• none of the people contacted had addressed the public record v. vendor-enhanced record (proprietary software) question in terms of land records (is a vendor produced index or scanned land record a public record, subject of actual cost and freedom of information provisions?).
• at least CT and ME offer state policies/requirements for scanning; NH doesn't.
• state policies, in varying detail, address required components of system; some non-New England states offer more elaborate guidance on how, or whether, to select a scanning system; how to do a cost benefit analysis; etc.

Sanford shared the preliminary summary of the study on the condition of municipal records. One key finding was that over 13% of Vermont's clerks were computerizing their land records, at some level, and 16% were creating computerized indices to their land records.

Sanford reported that Joe Jaminet had talked with the local government records official in Texas. Deeds in Texas are recorded at the county clerks' offices. Approximately 40 of the 254 counties are scanning to electronic format and most of those are storing the records on CD-R and backing up the images to microfilm using a Digital Archive Writer (a Kodak product). Clerks have a records management fee of up to $5.00 per recorded document that can be used for the electronic conversion system. The CD's are made available to the public at cost. There is an informal group looking into the electronic submission of deeds, but it is waiting for passage of a uniform digital signature law.

There was general discussion of the areas of study enumerated in Act 125 and what the committee's report should address. John Cushing suggested that the computerized indexing of land records was the most do-able step and the key to subsequent efforts at computerization. The committee decided to focus on indexing and address, to some degree, the scanning of land records. Digital signatures, form deeds, and Internet connectivity (connectivity not being among the committee's charges) should be viewed as subsequent stages in the computerization of land records, perhaps more closely associated with the possible future adoption of electronic filing of land records.

The need for some entity capable of effectively communicating record keeping requirements to information technology experts was discussed. Connecticut and Maine, where policies and recommendations for implementing scanning and other systems were available to local government officials, were supported as models. A Vermont entity could be an existing body such as the Public Records Division, the Public Records Advisory Board, the state's Chief Information Officer, the Communications and Technology Division, the Information Resource Management Advisory Council, the Department of :Libraries, or the Secretary of State's Office. Or it could be a new entity, perhaps formed by consolidating some of the overlapping responsibilities of existing boards.

Jim Knapp recommended that the report include sections on the value of the records, who uses them, and how they are used. John Howland recommended that the report provide a list of options, and the cost of each, for the General Assembly to choose from.

Assignments: It was felt that the questionnaire sent out as part of the Secretary of State's study on the condition of municipal records largely covered questions that would have been asked in the questionnaire being developed by John Cushing, Pattie McCoy and Mardee Sanchez. John and Pattie will, however, gather additional information at the upcoming meeting of the Vermont Municipal Clerks' and Treasurers' Association. Information will include annual number of users of records at each municipal clerk's office and the volume of land record at each municipality (in order to gain sense of cost of creating computerized indexing). John will also continue his analysis of what it would cost to have complete computerized indices for Milton's records.

Jim Knapp will prepare a brief report, with a possible model, on form deeds.

Pattie McCoy will talk with municipal clerks in Connecticut and Rhode Island for more information on how they are implementing computerized indexing and scanning and what fee structures are in place for funding those activities.

Gregory Sanford will continue his survey of New England state practices with an emphasis on Connecticut and Rhode Island. He will examine models for an oversight board to recommend record keeping practices and will explore areas that such a board should address in order to best guide the computerized indexing and scanning of land records.

The next meeting will be on Wednesday, August 19th in the Salisbury Town Clerk's Office at 9:30 a.m.. The meeting will focus on indexing.

The meeting adjourned at 11:35 a.m..