- GRAFTON COUNTY REGISTRY OF DEEDS
Kelley Jean Monahan Register Annual Report Fiscal Year 2024
To the Citizens of Grafton County, Commissioners and Delegation Members:
As Fiscal Year 2024 began, I had just wrapped up the ARPA Microfilm Project and had secured the second full set of all records recorded back to 1773 in a secure, climate controlled, offsite storage. This facility is government operated and within a two-hour drive located within the state of New Hampshire. We were in the process of collecting and inventorying all the historic plan books of the Historic Plan Restoration Project and it couldn’t have happened at a more critical moment as the climate controls in the vault were failing. Water had leaked from the drip pan of the ventilation system, and a large garbage can was collecting the flow, just as we were entering the humid days of summer. The ventilation and humidity were less than ideal for most of the summer and into the fall.
The historic plans had been stored close to this unit and had to be covered with plastic to prevent splash-back. Due to the rainy summer, we were seeing breaches in the floor tiles from what I concluded to be rebar seizing up that remained from the vault’s previous life as the Nursing Home laundry room. This type of breach was dangerous as it could invite unwelcome mold into the sterile vault. I had hired a part time unbenefited employee, Attorney Joseph Ransmeier to assist with inventory, reorganization, and heavy lifting. He has become a very valuable asset, and this project could not have been completed without his dedication, attention to detail and strength. Thank you, Joe!
The daunting project of reorganizing the entire vault taking shape. Many years ago, hundreds of our oldest books had been sent out to be microfilmed and returned as loose paper wrapped in brown craft paper. This was inexcusable. I had been an advocate for protection of these records to have my concerns fall on deaf ears. These records were not a priority of the Administration or the Delegation. I had purchased archival quality, plastic corrugated boxes to hold these delicate pages, purchased archival, low acid, quality linen to act as a front and back cover. We stripped the brown craft paper and began the re-packaging process. These expenses were covered with surcharge funds, leaving the taxpayer unaffected.
In September as the Legislative Services Requests, LSR titles became public information our Legislative Chair identified a Constitutional Amendment proposal to eliminate the New Hampshire Registers of Deeds. Our affiliate was shocked, and we discussed the potential impact and questioned the motivation. It became apparent that there was something unusual about this LSR as the sponsor was a member of the Grafton County Delegation. In March when I attempted to discuss this matter with the Grafton Executive Committee and the Representative Bill Bolton, the bill sponsor, in a public meeting, I was told that the bill had been withdrawal and that there would be no public discussion. There was also to be no private discussion. Our affiliate will be watching for further developments in future legislative cycles, as this individual spent his career in Vital Records and should certainly understand the implications of his actions.
In December, for the second straight year, I was a speaker at the New Hampshire Land Surveyor’s Association Annual Meeting. I find it is always beneficial to reach out and explore areas of conflict or concern to seek understanding and resolution. This is a great organization, and I always enjoy the event. We share a mutual reverence and respect for the documents and plans.
HB 68 FN- Transfer Upon Death Deed was another bill that we were following, Maine having adopted it a few years ago. Our Legislative Chair testified to provide for there to be a right to refuse and we were pleased to have that included in the final language. As the bill was passed and became law, the registers of deeds discussed how to handle the programming of this in our software. We knew that this would have a trickledown effect which would have a significant impact on how the town clerks and assessors would process this type of document. We voted unanimously to code this as a stand-alone document as it did not represent change in ownership for taxation purpose, but a potential change of ownership, which would have to be filed separately, awaiting the recording of a death certificate to trigger the change in ownership.
This bill became law on July 1, 2024, and in late June, I spoke with every municipality in Grafton County, explaining the implications and how they would need to proceed. I had previously scheduled to host the Grafton County Tax Collectors Association meeting here on July 11, 2024, to show them the vault redesign and the progress on restoration of the historic plans. I planned on elaborating on the Transfer upon Death Deed during this meeting with the stakeholders.
In December, a Department Head wanted to revisit the Security Committee that we had once established. I pointed out the fact at the first meeting that we should not be using taxpayer dollars or any private firm, as this is the role of Homeland Security. I had to argue that point and by February, we had a team from Homeland Security on the complex conducting an analysis. That analysis became a confidential document and as I write this approaching November, nothing has changed.
We had an unexpected early retirement announcement in mid-March with Senior Deputy Beth Wyman deciding to end her dedicated service a little earlier than expected. Beth’s commitment to this office is not something that is seen any longer, giving 38 years of her life to the people of Grafton County in the valuable role that she played in this office. The reason that documents will be easily located long into the future is attributed to Beth’s critical eye as the role of Indexer. We wish her the world of happiness.
In April, we added a wonderful new person, Carmen Graham to our very small, dedicated team, and cross training began again. I promoted Deputy Brenda Dodge to Sr. Deputy/Executive Assistant to the Register. Brenda possesses a wealth of knowledge of the office, having served Grafton County for 34 years. An employee who had spent a few years with us before COVID returned, Kim Carpenter, and our professional team was assembled. All three have resumes that include active service to their municipalities and all are committed to the highest level of customer service.
With all records now available online thanks to the first ARPA project of the scanning by US Imaging of our gap years of 1870- 1930 we were seeing a reduction of pleasure/historical researchers to the office, but there was a huge increase in the number of local property owners who were seeking assistance researching documents for boundary line agreements, easements, deeds and plans in order to handle disputes with new neighbors. The influx of new people during COVID has brought conflict. The following is my justification statement on increasing our revenue projection that was included in the Power Point Presentation on the Commissioners Budget in May.
“Grafton County is a prime location for living, working and recreation. With the expansion of internet service availability, there is no stopping growth and further development. As land comes out of Current Use and is considered for development, we see increases in revenue from recording fees and copy fees. As land changes hands, we will continue to see growth of our four percent share of Real Estate Transfer Tax. The most critical service that a concerned and dedicated citizen can provide is to step up to local planning boards and zoning boards of adjustments to continue to keep Grafton County developing with local control, oversight and lawful decision making on new projects.”
Revenue Total FY2024 $1,218,327.16
RETT 4% Recording Fees LCHIP 4% Copies Online Services Tapestry & AVA Surcharge Postage
$674,712.20 $356,709.34 $9,863.00 $68,866.00 $20,272.79 $30,801.57 $27,162.00 $2,778.26
Our office recorded 14,307 documents to the Official Public Record in FY2024, of these 4,977 were paper documents and 9330 were e-recordings.
Respectfully submitted,
Kelley Jean Monahan
Register of Deeds
Kelley Jean Monahan Register Annual Report Fiscal Year 2024
To the Citizens of Grafton County, Commissioners and Delegation Members:
As Fiscal Year 2024 began, I had just wrapped up the ARPA Microfilm Project and had secured the second full set of all records recorded back to 1773 in a secure, climate controlled, offsite storage. This facility is government operated and within a two-hour drive located within the state of New Hampshire. We were in the process of collecting and inventorying all the historic plan books of the Historic Plan Restoration Project and it couldn’t have happened at a more critical moment as the climate controls in the vault were failing. Water had leaked from the drip pan of the ventilation system, and a large garbage can was collecting the flow, just as we were entering the humid days of summer. The ventilation and humidity were less than ideal for most of the summer and into the fall.
The historic plans had been stored close to this unit and had to be covered with plastic to prevent splash-back. Due to the rainy summer, we were seeing breaches in the floor tiles from what I concluded to be rebar seizing up that remained from the vault’s previous life as the Nursing Home laundry room. This type of breach was dangerous as it could invite unwelcome mold into the sterile vault. I had hired a part time unbenefited employee, Attorney Joseph Ransmeier to assist with inventory, reorganization, and heavy lifting. He has become a very valuable asset, and this project could not have been completed without his dedication, attention to detail and strength. Thank you, Joe!
The daunting project of reorganizing the entire vault taking shape. Many years ago, hundreds of our oldest books had been sent out to be microfilmed and returned as loose paper wrapped in brown craft paper. This was inexcusable. I had been an advocate for protection of these records to have my concerns fall on deaf ears. These records were not a priority of the Administration or the Delegation. I had purchased archival quality, plastic corrugated boxes to hold these delicate pages, purchased archival, low acid, quality linen to act as a front and back cover. We stripped the brown craft paper and began the re-packaging process. These expenses were covered with surcharge funds, leaving the taxpayer unaffected.
In September as the Legislative Services Requests, LSR titles became public information our Legislative Chair identified a Constitutional Amendment proposal to eliminate the New Hampshire Registers of Deeds. Our affiliate was shocked, and we discussed the potential impact and questioned the motivation. It became apparent that there was something unusual about this LSR as the sponsor was a member of the Grafton County Delegation. In March when I attempted to discuss this matter with the Grafton Executive Committee and the Representative Bill Bolton, the bill sponsor, in a public meeting, I was told that the bill had been withdrawal and that there would be no public discussion. There was also to be no private discussion. Our affiliate will be watching for further developments in future legislative cycles, as this individual spent his career in Vital Records and should certainly understand the implications of his actions.
In December, for the second straight year, I was a speaker at the New Hampshire Land Surveyor’s Association Annual Meeting. I find it is always beneficial to reach out and explore areas of conflict or concern to seek understanding and resolution. This is a great organization, and I always enjoy the event. We share a mutual reverence and respect for the documents and plans.
HB 68 FN- Transfer Upon Death Deed was another bill that we were following, Maine having adopted it a few years ago. Our Legislative Chair testified to provide for there to be a right to refuse and we were pleased to have that included in the final language. As the bill was passed and became law, the registers of deeds discussed how to handle the programming of this in our software. We knew that this would have a trickledown effect which would have a significant impact on how the town clerks and assessors would process this type of document. We voted unanimously to code this as a stand-alone document as it did not represent change in ownership for taxation purpose, but a potential change of ownership, which would have to be filed separately, awaiting the recording of a death certificate to trigger the change in ownership.
This bill became law on July 1, 2024, and in late June, I spoke with every municipality in Grafton County, explaining the implications and how they would need to proceed. I had previously scheduled to host the Grafton County Tax Collectors Association meeting here on July 11, 2024, to show them the vault redesign and the progress on restoration of the historic plans. I planned on elaborating on the Transfer upon Death Deed during this meeting with the stakeholders.
In December, a Department Head wanted to revisit the Security Committee that we had once established. I pointed out the fact at the first meeting that we should not be using taxpayer dollars or any private firm, as this is the role of Homeland Security. I had to argue that point and by February, we had a team from Homeland Security on the complex conducting an analysis. That analysis became a confidential document and as I write this approaching November, nothing has changed.
We had an unexpected early retirement announcement in mid-March with Senior Deputy Beth Wyman deciding to end her dedicated service a little earlier than expected. Beth’s commitment to this office is not something that is seen any longer, giving 38 years of her life to the people of Grafton County in the valuable role that she played in this office. The reason that documents will be easily located long into the future is attributed to Beth’s critical eye as the role of Indexer. We wish her the world of happiness.
In April, we added a wonderful new person, Carmen Graham to our very small, dedicated team, and cross training began again. I promoted Deputy Brenda Dodge to Sr. Deputy/Executive Assistant to the Register. Brenda possesses a wealth of knowledge of the office, having served Grafton County for 34 years. An employee who had spent a few years with us before COVID returned, Kim Carpenter, and our professional team was assembled. All three have resumes that include active service to their municipalities and all are committed to the highest level of customer service.
With all records now available online thanks to the first ARPA project of the scanning by US Imaging of our gap years of 1870- 1930 we were seeing a reduction of pleasure/historical researchers to the office, but there was a huge increase in the number of local property owners who were seeking assistance researching documents for boundary line agreements, easements, deeds and plans in order to handle disputes with new neighbors. The influx of new people during COVID has brought conflict. The following is my justification statement on increasing our revenue projection that was included in the Power Point Presentation on the Commissioners Budget in May.
“Grafton County is a prime location for living, working and recreation. With the expansion of internet service availability, there is no stopping growth and further development. As land comes out of Current Use and is considered for development, we see increases in revenue from recording fees and copy fees. As land changes hands, we will continue to see growth of our four percent share of Real Estate Transfer Tax. The most critical service that a concerned and dedicated citizen can provide is to step up to local planning boards and zoning boards of adjustments to continue to keep Grafton County developing with local control, oversight and lawful decision making on new projects.”
Revenue Total FY2024 $1,218,327.16
RETT 4% Recording Fees LCHIP 4% Copies Online Services Tapestry & AVA Surcharge Postage
$674,712.20 $356,709.34 $9,863.00 $68,866.00 $20,272.79 $30,801.57 $27,162.00 $2,778.26
Our office recorded 14,307 documents to the Official Public Record in FY2024, of these 4,977 were paper documents and 9330 were e-recordings.
Respectfully submitted,
Kelley Jean Monahan
Register of Deeds