The Register of Deeds office was successful in changing a state law that has the potential to save Rutherford County taxpayers over a million dollars and has already saved $200,000 since it was implemented three months ago.
Heather Dawbarn, the Rutherford County register of deeds created a new records management program with the help of Eastman Park Micrographics, which specializes in the digitizing and microfilming of documents.
“The new system is working even better than we projected,” said Dawbarn.
“It’s exciting! Less time, less space and lower costs [are] exactly what we were looking for,” Dawbarn said.
Walker Burford, who is the official records management analyst at the Register of Deeds office, said, “Imagine reducing 10 tractor trailers of documents into one tractor trailer.”
“This is a groundbreaking program in Tennessee; no other counties are doing what we are doing,” he continued. “Interagency cooperation is a great way to reduce costs for Rutherford County.”
Many county offices have documents that need to be sorted, digitized and microfilmed; Ms. Dawbarn’s new program was working so well that she asked other departments if they could use her help to reduce their expense and exposure to risk.
Laura Bohling, Rutherford County circuit court clerk, was the first to join the money-saving project.
“Our initial savings was $47,000, and we are very excited about the long-term savings potential of the overall project,” Bohling said.
Rutherford County Clerk Lisa Crowell said, “Every county government office is on a tight budget, so the opportunity to save time, money and to meet all the state requirements efficiently was very interesting to me.”
Dawbarn discovered a roadblock in implementing the interagency cooperation; there is a state statute that restricted the register’s office from sharing these services with other county offices.
“The equipment was going to sit there not being used when it could benefit other county offices because the fees used were restricted for the duties of the Register’s office,” said Dawbarn.
Dawbarn worked with Senator Bill Ketron and House Representative Joe Carr to have the law changed. It was successfully changed in October 2011 and records management for the county was officially added to the duties of the Rutherford County Register of Deeds office.
“Our building was designed to expand as our records increased. We will no longer need to add as much space due to Ms. Dawbarn’s electronic records management initiative,” said archivist John Lodl in a records committee meeting.
The sheriff’s office is required by law to keep booking records for 100 years.
“You can imagine the amount of space needed to store that many records,” Rutherford County sheriff Robert Arnold said. “We have already saved $30,000 and that number will grow because of the program created by Ms. Dawbarn.”
The register of deeds is an elected position that records all property transfers, liens and purchases in the county.
“Rutherford County is leading the way in electronic records management. I have had visits and calls from other state and federal agencies and even Google in regards to our initiative,” Dawbarn said. “It’s a large project and has the potential to revolutionize how we maintain and access governmental records.”
If you have questions about the program, you are encouraged to contact Heather Dawbarn, register of deeds, at (615) 898-7872.
