County recorder gives up idea for online business

Thursday, Aug. 14, 2003 | 11:17 a.m.

Clark County Recorder Frances Deane said today she has abandoned a concept for marketing county records online through a for-profit company.

Deane said she would have been willing to submit her concept to the Nevada Ethics Commission to review whether it was a proper idea to increase public access to records or a nest-feathering scheme. She denied doing anything wrong by developing the concept.

Deane, a Republican, had filed with the Nevada Secretary of State's office for the incorporation of a new business with former Republican Lt. Gov. Lonnie Hammargren.

However, she hadn't paid the $295 filing fee nor had she even discussed what they would charge the public for the Internet access, she said.

Clark County Manager Thom Reilly asked the District Attorney's office to examine whether the concept would violate any laws.

"Of course I had to think twice about it," Deane said this morning after reading a published report of her concept. "I haven't done anything yet. All I did was think -- and I think it was a good idea."

The plan was for Deane and Hammargren to set up a company that would market to the public a website being established by title companies, using documents dating to 1909 purchased from her office. Attempts to reach Hammargren today were not successful.

"I came up with the idea to fulfill one of my campaign promises to encourage people to check their property records twice a year and to make those records more accessible," said Deane, who was elected to the post in November.

She said her initial plan was to send postcards to people who had liens filed on their property but that was not cost-effective. She got the idea to use the title company data because those firms purchase records from her office on a daily basis.

Dean noted that her agency's records currently are not free. The agency charges $1 per page for records. The average document is 5.5 pages, she said.

Her concept would have allowed people to pay a fee to access the title company's website, with the title companies getting half and her limited liability company getting half.

The county would have received nothing because the public would be accessing data from records that already had been purchased by the title companies.

Deane said that a Virginia-based company, AmCad, which has a $4.9 million contract to install new computer system in the recorder's office, is not slated to provide Internet access to the documents.

Even if it did, she said, those records would date back just to 1994, while her concept would have given public access to records dating to 1909.

Assistant County Manager Rick Holmes said it his understanding that the contract included Internet service. Deane said AmCad is contracted to copy and make documents available to other county agencies through "an intranet system." Attempts to reach a spokesman with AmCad this morning were not successful.

County Assessor Mark Schofield provides the assessor's records on the Internet for free, Holmes said.

Deane said for her to place 20 million images on the website for records dating back to 1994 -- with thousands of people seeking access -- could have caused the county's website to crash.

She said she does not have the budget to provide the extent of records she wants to make available, all the way to 1909.

"I calculated that it would take 6,000 rolls of film at $15.50 a roll to copy everything but the 10 years AmCad committed to copy," said Deane, a former mortgage banker.

"It's just not financially feasible for me to spend that kind of money. Maybe I will come up with an idea two years from now to make it pay for itself, and the county will let me do it."