Greene County records now available online

by Karen E. Culp

SBJ Staff

Greene County records are now available through a modem on a home or business computer. Greene County officials Linda Montgomery, recorder of deeds, Jean Twitty, assessor, and Scott Payne, collector, announced June 8 a new program whereby county records can be accessed electronically.

A user must have a VT 100 terminal, eight data bits, one stop bit, no parity and a maximum baud rate of 14,400.

The phone number to call in and access the information is 869-3262. The log-in in is gc public and the password is public.

Each county department, recorder, collector and assessor will have a public access screen, Montgomery said. The recorder's portion will allow patrons to search for uniform commercial code documents, real estate documents and military discharges.

The UCC inquiry menu works for the past five years only, Montgomery said.

The real estate records date to January 1994 and the military discharges to 1918. The assessor's screen provides access to property information, such as who owns a given parcel and that property's address. The collector's menu gives access to information about property tax amounts and whether taxes have been paid.

The screens are similar to those found on the public access terminals at the county offices. The recorder's office is absorbing the cost for the system, which totals about $600, Montgomery said.

"This is not a very expensive system, and it provides a good service for the public," Montgomery said.

The new system will be of some benefit for title companies, in the way of saving their representatives a trip to the courthouse to look up an item, but the companies still need a comprehensive record of documents from each day.

Right now, Montgomery provides those documents either on microfilm or on four-millimeter DAT tapes, she said.

"This will not eliminate the need for microfilm records. They still need every record. But this is a way for them to look something up quickly if they need to and save themselves a trip over here," Montgomery said.

She added that it will be a long time before the recorder's office stops using microfilm.

About one year ago, a local title company filed a federal lawsuit over availability of records in the recorder of deeds' office.

General Land Title Co. filed suit against the recorder of deeds, the county commissioners and five title companies.

At that time, the five title companies participated in the Greene County Land Title Association, which maintained a photocopier and microfilm machine in the recorder's office.

This allowed them access to records more quickly than non-member companies, said Jimmie Bell of General Land Title.

Montgomery said the equipment has since been taken out of her office and the microfilm is processed by an outside third party and sold to title companies.

Montgomery said that now that the equipment is removed, "there is really no basis for that lawsuit."

Bell said the availability of microfilm was immediate for members of the association, but was often available much later for other title companies.

Though all companies are now purchasing the film from a private company, "there was preferential treatment" toward the members of the association, Bell

said.

Bell's attorney, Jay Kirksey, said that even after the machines had been removed, the damage from the previous "preferential treatment" had already occurred.

"This favoritism has been shown for years. The damage has already been done," Kirksey said.

The case is set for trial Oct. 26.

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