GRAFTON COUNTY REGISTRY OF DEEDS
Kelley Jean Monahan Register
Annual Report Fiscal Year 2016
To the Citizens of Grafton County, the Honorable Commissioners and Delegation Members:
TITLE XLVIII
CONVEYANCES AND MORTGAGES OF REALTY
CHAPTER 478
REGISTERS OF DEEDS
Section 478:1478:1 Duties. – The register of deeds shall carefully keep in the office provided by the county at all times, except when he may be required by a court to produce them as evidence or when the same may be removed for the purposes of repair, all books, records, files and papers belonging thereto, and when not in use shall keep them in a safe location where their protection from fire, theft, water and the elements is insured, and he shall permit no paper there deposited for record to be taken from his office before it is recorded. Whenever any of the volumes of records in his office shall be in need of repair, he shall seasonably cause them to be suitably repaired at the expense of the county, and, if necessary, he may allow such volumes to be taken out of his office for a reasonable time for that purpose.
Source. RS 22:4. CS 23:4. GS 26:3. GL 23:15; 27:3. PS 29:1. 1911, 80:1. PL 40:1. RL 49:1. RSA 478:1. 1975, 149:2, eff. May 26, 1975.
As evidenced by the above RSA, my duties to the office of the Registry are relatively simple, to protect the Official Public Record of the Grafton County Registry of Deeds. Though the statute could use revision to reflect modern threats, we have kept pace with industry demands that we move faster, adopt electronic compliance in the form of viewing and e-recording. These technological conversions primarily benefit the industry, big title, legal, real estate and banking, with the cost for these upgrades falling to the Grafton County tax payer. I made a critical and bold decision as we began FY16 and on July 1, 2016, after posting a schedule of notice on our websites, I removed the ability to view all digitized images, over 3 million document pages and 24,000 subdivision plans, from free and open access. Contrary to popular belief, this move was made, not to deny the citizen of Grafton County access to their documents, but to require the players who monetize the data base, on a regular basis, to contribute to the cost of that system. I made this difficult and unpopular decision, in part, to offer protection to the property owners of Grafton County.
This has not been hardship on local, regular users, but has represented an increase in work to our local abstractors. Businesses or individuals who need regular access may open an account which is monitored by staff, this fee of $120.00 per year, equates to $10 per month per account. This action brought both piece of mind and contributed $50,640.00 towards the software line. It has been very rewarding to see community return to the Registry, occasional users now frequent our research room, sharing information, offering assistance and general networking, a valuable component which was abandoned when everyone had open access.
July 1st also brought an unexpected departure of a valuable member of our team. As we were about to transition to e-recording on Oct 1st, we determined that we would delay replacing this employee until we mastered the next few conversions. E-recording went very smoothly and we have managed schedules to make do without the additional member of the staff. It is critical that we hire a training level employee in FY17.
January 1st was to bring a conversion to Laredo, Fidlar Technology’s signature search program. Many factors lead to the postponement of that conversion. This is now a permanent cancellation, as our software partner has re-affirmed their commitment to Grafton County and the State of New Hampshire by announcing a new initiative.
Fidlar Technologies has recently announced that they have invested in re-programming for the NHdeeds search that our users have been familiar with since 1987. Focus has been on relieving the burden of constant JAVA updates that have been a requirement. They are exploring compatibility for remote devices that rely on platforms other than Internet Explorer. This should come as great news to our surveyors in the field who have wished for compatibility with I-Pad and other mobile devices. There may be some aesthetic updates to the interface, but primarily, the simplicity of use will be retained. Our software partner, Fidlar Technologies, continues to be stellar in service and innovation. We were first in New Hampshire to convert to the AVID recording system, which controls recording, indexing, archiving, billing and multiple layers of back up retrieval.
In February, I attended The PRIA Property Records Industry Association Winter Conference, which is a very productive conference as all industry partners are present to review regulation and best practices from various points of view. Much of the discussion was centered on industry needs in light of the TRID regulations out of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau which were to take effect on August 1, 2015, but were postponed until October 3, 2015. To date compliance with the new regulations is a dismal failure with 90% non-compliance. We are the agency with the power to reject non-conforming documents, thus holding the responsibility of setting the clock on the potential levying of fines. Legislative efforts that are arising in other states were discussed as was innovation, we also heard from Ontario, Canada and their new billion-dollar system of registered land.
At the PRIA conference I learned of a new product for which I budgeted and was approved. The CUBE is a state of the art system that will allow for an onsite digital back up of our entire data base. This will add to the layers of protection already provided by Fidlar Technologies.
January, February, March consisted of budget preparation and a great deal of time spent fending off threatening legislation which would have created a study commission using New Hampshire as a test for a Torrens system. A system of land registration and privatization for profit of the aggregated data. These data bases have been meticulously cared for by the elected officials for over 250 years, funded by the tax payer. This library/data base is an asset of the citizen of Grafton County, alone.
The New Hampshire Register of Deeds Association is a bipartisan affiliate of elected officials equally passionate about the role that they perform for the public and the industry users. We meet at least quarterly to discuss issues that pertain to our offices. Many people lack understanding regarding the challenges that we face in bringing a historic data base to the internet. Uploading a modern data base is practically effortless, working to deliver the size of the data bases that we are responsible for, compiled over hundreds of years, indexed by scores of individuals over the course of these years, can be a huge challenge. There is a distinct lack of appreciation for veteran staff members who have dedicated their careers to these offices. I consider them an invaluable asset, as well.
In my role as Department Head as Grafton County, I have always been an active participant in our Joint Loss Committee, which meets quarterly to assess risk and analyze liability and offer corrective action. In an effort to bring attention to the value of the data base/library, I sought out our property insurance carrier to inquire on coverage. It was determined that the data base/library is invaluable. Invaluable meaning that no dollar value can be placed and as such, it is uninsurable.
Taking this information, I inquired of the independent auditor regarding the value placed on the data base/library as it should be considered an asset of the County. I was informed that since we have never purchased this data base/library, that it is not considered as an asset of the county. I find this an interesting quandary. It would seem that any insurance would have to come from within this office, and as I hope to move forward into my 4th term, I will continue to insure the safety of this very valuable collection.
Respectfully submitted,
Kelley Jean Monahan
Register of Deeds
Kelley Jean Monahan Register
Annual Report Fiscal Year 2016
To the Citizens of Grafton County, the Honorable Commissioners and Delegation Members:
TITLE XLVIII
CONVEYANCES AND MORTGAGES OF REALTY
CHAPTER 478
REGISTERS OF DEEDS
Section 478:1478:1 Duties. – The register of deeds shall carefully keep in the office provided by the county at all times, except when he may be required by a court to produce them as evidence or when the same may be removed for the purposes of repair, all books, records, files and papers belonging thereto, and when not in use shall keep them in a safe location where their protection from fire, theft, water and the elements is insured, and he shall permit no paper there deposited for record to be taken from his office before it is recorded. Whenever any of the volumes of records in his office shall be in need of repair, he shall seasonably cause them to be suitably repaired at the expense of the county, and, if necessary, he may allow such volumes to be taken out of his office for a reasonable time for that purpose.
Source. RS 22:4. CS 23:4. GS 26:3. GL 23:15; 27:3. PS 29:1. 1911, 80:1. PL 40:1. RL 49:1. RSA 478:1. 1975, 149:2, eff. May 26, 1975.
As evidenced by the above RSA, my duties to the office of the Registry are relatively simple, to protect the Official Public Record of the Grafton County Registry of Deeds. Though the statute could use revision to reflect modern threats, we have kept pace with industry demands that we move faster, adopt electronic compliance in the form of viewing and e-recording. These technological conversions primarily benefit the industry, big title, legal, real estate and banking, with the cost for these upgrades falling to the Grafton County tax payer. I made a critical and bold decision as we began FY16 and on July 1, 2016, after posting a schedule of notice on our websites, I removed the ability to view all digitized images, over 3 million document pages and 24,000 subdivision plans, from free and open access. Contrary to popular belief, this move was made, not to deny the citizen of Grafton County access to their documents, but to require the players who monetize the data base, on a regular basis, to contribute to the cost of that system. I made this difficult and unpopular decision, in part, to offer protection to the property owners of Grafton County.
This has not been hardship on local, regular users, but has represented an increase in work to our local abstractors. Businesses or individuals who need regular access may open an account which is monitored by staff, this fee of $120.00 per year, equates to $10 per month per account. This action brought both piece of mind and contributed $50,640.00 towards the software line. It has been very rewarding to see community return to the Registry, occasional users now frequent our research room, sharing information, offering assistance and general networking, a valuable component which was abandoned when everyone had open access.
July 1st also brought an unexpected departure of a valuable member of our team. As we were about to transition to e-recording on Oct 1st, we determined that we would delay replacing this employee until we mastered the next few conversions. E-recording went very smoothly and we have managed schedules to make do without the additional member of the staff. It is critical that we hire a training level employee in FY17.
January 1st was to bring a conversion to Laredo, Fidlar Technology’s signature search program. Many factors lead to the postponement of that conversion. This is now a permanent cancellation, as our software partner has re-affirmed their commitment to Grafton County and the State of New Hampshire by announcing a new initiative.
Fidlar Technologies has recently announced that they have invested in re-programming for the NHdeeds search that our users have been familiar with since 1987. Focus has been on relieving the burden of constant JAVA updates that have been a requirement. They are exploring compatibility for remote devices that rely on platforms other than Internet Explorer. This should come as great news to our surveyors in the field who have wished for compatibility with I-Pad and other mobile devices. There may be some aesthetic updates to the interface, but primarily, the simplicity of use will be retained. Our software partner, Fidlar Technologies, continues to be stellar in service and innovation. We were first in New Hampshire to convert to the AVID recording system, which controls recording, indexing, archiving, billing and multiple layers of back up retrieval.
In February, I attended The PRIA Property Records Industry Association Winter Conference, which is a very productive conference as all industry partners are present to review regulation and best practices from various points of view. Much of the discussion was centered on industry needs in light of the TRID regulations out of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau which were to take effect on August 1, 2015, but were postponed until October 3, 2015. To date compliance with the new regulations is a dismal failure with 90% non-compliance. We are the agency with the power to reject non-conforming documents, thus holding the responsibility of setting the clock on the potential levying of fines. Legislative efforts that are arising in other states were discussed as was innovation, we also heard from Ontario, Canada and their new billion-dollar system of registered land.
At the PRIA conference I learned of a new product for which I budgeted and was approved. The CUBE is a state of the art system that will allow for an onsite digital back up of our entire data base. This will add to the layers of protection already provided by Fidlar Technologies.
January, February, March consisted of budget preparation and a great deal of time spent fending off threatening legislation which would have created a study commission using New Hampshire as a test for a Torrens system. A system of land registration and privatization for profit of the aggregated data. These data bases have been meticulously cared for by the elected officials for over 250 years, funded by the tax payer. This library/data base is an asset of the citizen of Grafton County, alone.
The New Hampshire Register of Deeds Association is a bipartisan affiliate of elected officials equally passionate about the role that they perform for the public and the industry users. We meet at least quarterly to discuss issues that pertain to our offices. Many people lack understanding regarding the challenges that we face in bringing a historic data base to the internet. Uploading a modern data base is practically effortless, working to deliver the size of the data bases that we are responsible for, compiled over hundreds of years, indexed by scores of individuals over the course of these years, can be a huge challenge. There is a distinct lack of appreciation for veteran staff members who have dedicated their careers to these offices. I consider them an invaluable asset, as well.
In my role as Department Head as Grafton County, I have always been an active participant in our Joint Loss Committee, which meets quarterly to assess risk and analyze liability and offer corrective action. In an effort to bring attention to the value of the data base/library, I sought out our property insurance carrier to inquire on coverage. It was determined that the data base/library is invaluable. Invaluable meaning that no dollar value can be placed and as such, it is uninsurable.
Taking this information, I inquired of the independent auditor regarding the value placed on the data base/library as it should be considered an asset of the County. I was informed that since we have never purchased this data base/library, that it is not considered as an asset of the county. I find this an interesting quandary. It would seem that any insurance would have to come from within this office, and as I hope to move forward into my 4th term, I will continue to insure the safety of this very valuable collection.
Respectfully submitted,
Kelley Jean Monahan
Register of Deeds