County Will Begin Storing Records on Compact Disc

A first-of-its-kind modernization plan to place property records, birth certificates and a host of other county documents onto compact discs won enthusiastic approval Tuesday from the Board of Supervisors.

The effort will likely make the county clerk-recorder’s office one of the first government agencies nationwide to fully computerize the documents it records, saving the county--as well as record-seeking members of the public--both time and money. The move will also sharply reduce the miles of microfilm and reams of paper now used.

The public will be able to get copies of birth certificates using computer terminals that read CD-ROM discs, instead of being obliged to wade through thick paper indexes and reels of microfilm.

“We get a lot of requests for birth certificates for school registration and Little League sign-ups,” said Clerk-Recorder Gary L. Granville. “This makes it very quick. You can get it done in five minutes. It used to take much longer.”

Moreover, the compact discs are expected to solve a problem involving the recorder’s cavernous archives, where paper documents from the 1940s and ‘50s are beginning to deteriorate with age.

The electronic transfer of some existing records and the recording of future official documents also has the backing of local title insurance companies, who are among the heaviest users of clerk-recorder documents. The firms worked with county officials in developing the system.

As the system was being planned, some county recorders elsewhere in the state expressed concern about the potential for fraud and other problems that might occur with automation.

“At this point, I feel we still need the personal touch that comes with a hands-on approach,” said James Maple, the Kern County assessor-recorder. The CD-ROM system “might have some merit. We are just going to sit back and see how others handle it.”

Before the Orange County system can go on line, the state Legislature must first amend a law to allow the county to treat signatures reproduced electronically as official signatures on certain government documents. The amendment is expected to be approved later this summer, and the clerk-recorder’s office hopes to have the system operating by Jan. 1.

Under current procedures, title companies must deliver paper deeds of trust and other property documents to the clerk-recorder’s office, where employees examine each paper by hand to make sure they comply with regulations and contain the proper data and signatures.

With the new CD-ROM technology, the companies will be able transmit the forms to the county via computer. Thanks to high-resolution computer graphics, county examiners will be able to check the documents on monitors in much the same way that they now handle printed copies.

“It will speed up the entire process,” said Elizabeth Corbett, assistant vice president of First American Title Insurance Co. “We won’t have to have people running to the recorder’s office all day.”

Corbett and Granville said the $1.4-million computer system won’t pose any new security risks, noting that property records will still be scrutinized both by title companies and the clerk-recorder’s office. Firms that feel uneasy about the approach can still process their documents using paper forms.

“There is always a resistance to change,” Granville said, “But the public is calling for government to [modernize] and not be archaic. This is a response to that.”

Officials expect the automation to save the county about $400,000 a year. The system will require fewer personnel, but any staff reductions are likely to occur through attrition and not layoffs.

In addition to property records, members of the public will be able to access and print data from the fictitious business names index, marriage documents and birth certificates in just a few minutes using CD-ROM terminals. Under the current system, residents must locate the proper file in bound indexes and then look up the information on microfilm.

Other government agencies are expected to eventually embrace electronic document recording and transmitting. The county’s courts already use such a system to handle some legal documents and court forms.