Incumbent Hall cites lack of benefit and demand
Christy McCord, Republican challenger to incumbent Denise Hall for the Currituck County Register of Deeds office, has made development of a mobile device app(lication) for public access to Register of Deeds records, a centerpiece of her campaign.
At GOP Candidate Meet and Greets, McCord has stated that real estate professional, attorneys and developers in the area have expressed an interest in a more user friendly mobile app for access to deeds and other records in the Register of Deeds office. McCord has not elaborated on her vision for a mobile app, and she has not responded to numerous requests for comment.
Incumbent Register of Denise Hall has countered that she has had no indication of demand for a mobile app, for deed and record access.
Hall also noted that in discussions with the county technology staff, support of a mobile app would be problematic – both from a cost and a support perspective.
“A mobile app would cost in excess of $50,000 upward to $100,000 depending on features”, Hall stated – according to her discussions with Courthouse Computer Systems. According to Hall, county information technology staff also expressed concerns over the cost of supporting the app.
Hall continued, “the added expense to the operations and support of the Register of Deeds office, with such a minimal benefit, would be a disservice to the taxpayers of our county.”
Documents under the care of the Currituck Register of Deed office are currently online with a web-based product designed and marketed by Chapel Hill, NC based Courthouse Computer Systems. According to their website, the company provides software solutions for capturing, storing, protecting, and accessing information assets such as deeds, and vital records – both securely and conveniently regardless of your end user platform (mobile, tablet or desktop).
According to Camden County Register of Deeds, Tammy Krause, the Courthouse Computer Systems software is utilized by Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Dare, Pasquotank, and Hertford counties in northeastern North Carolina.
When asked if her office had received requests for a mobile app to access records, Krause responded, “I have not.”
She then explained, “we have put in a lot of work (into upgrading our software system). We’re a very small county, with not a lot of money – we’re not the size of Currituck.”
She added, “we have gone in manually and scanned the deed books which we could and put them online.” She noted that some deed books, which required special care were handled by outside vendors for scanning.
When asked about ease of use, Krause elaborated, “you can go to your computer and look them up, that’s the best that Camden County can do for you. That capability has made a tremendous difference in the volume of people walking through these doors.”
“Most people want to look up records from home or office – especially the paralegals and attorneys.”
According to Cheryl House, Dare County Register of Deeds, when asked about requests/demand for a mobile app, “to my knowledge this office has not received a request for a mobile app(lication). With the program we use, the documents are available on mobile devices.”
When asked if the Dare County Register of Deeds – which also utilizes Courthouse Computer Systems product – office had any complaints about functionality of the department website on mobile devices, House responded, “No, we have not had any complaints.”
According to House, the Dare County Register of Deeds has a larger volume of deed and vital record filings and a correspondingly larger staff than Currituck County. Tammy Krause, the Camden County Register of Deeds indicated that her office had a lower processing volume, with approximately the same staff as Currituck, employees plus the Register of Deeds.
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