Register of Deeds office gets needed updates to recording system

For the first time in more than 30 years the Register of Deeds office at the Presque Isle County Courthouse, has a new way of recording documents with the installation of an ACS computer system. Approved by the Presque Isle County Board of Commissioners in September, the new system replaces a camera purchased in 1970 for $4,237.

The five-year lease from the Syracuse, New York company will cost the county $2,375 a month. The equipment is expected to be self-supporting with a technology fund approved last March by the board. When the board decided to authorize installation of the new system, which is in place in Montmorency and Alcona counties, the fund was at $16,000. It?s now at $26,000.

BECA– USE OF THE age of the camera, it had become difficult to locate parts. The county was paying $1,800 for an annual service contract for the outdated equipment. Register of Deeds Janet Lamb had been waiting several years for the commissioners to give their final approval. In recent years, the new imaging equipment was listed as a budget request, but later chopped. It took some convincing of current board members, but now it?s in place and working ?really well,? she said. Lamb went before commissioners to present a contract she proposed to local abstract and title companies, which had been buying film from the office.

Lamb proposed raising the cost per image to 35 cents, which was agreed to by Huron Shores Abstract and Title and Presque Isle Title Inc. ?One abstracter was paying 20 cents — another has been paying 30 (cents),? Lamb said. ?It will (now) be 35 cents across the board.? Lamb said Presque Isle Title has been purchased by Mt. Pleasant Title, but the name of the business will remain the same.

THE CONTRACT stated that the Register of Deeds office will ?burn? CD?s biweekly for the two firms, with the discs being provided by the title companies. ?Thi

s information is to be strictly for the use of the abstracter and will not be sold to any other business,? states the contract, which Lamb read to the board. Some of the training was conducted over the last two weeks with two ACS workers arriving February 1. One stayed nearly a week, and another almost two weeks. ?We?ve been catching up pretty well,? Lamb said. ?It?s basically what we do anyway. It?s just a different screen, different form, shorter, no more filming, no more chemicals and that?s great. I thank you for that.? As a part of the lease, ACS will provide needed equipment upgrades and will handle repairs.

The commissioners approved the contract on a 3-0 vote, with commissioners Allan Bruder and Don Field absent.