Guilford County Register of Deeds staff received more certifications through the UNC Institute of Government in 2007 than any other county in North Carolina. Thirty (30) of Thirty-Three (33) staff will have completed Register of Deeds School. The final three (3) will complete the School in 2008.
NC Property Records Education Partners (PREP) held its first historic meeting at the Greensboro Regional Realtors Association in February 2007. Over 120 attended with equal representation from the public and private sectors to discuss e-recording in North Carolina. Guilford County Register of Deeds planned and hosted the meeting.
New carpeting installed in the Vault area of the Greensboro office in April 2007.
Directional signs added to the Recording, Vault, and Vital Records in Greensboro.
Jeff Thigpen and David Smith completed the Advanced Register of Deeds School through the NC Institute of Government. The training is an intensive 3 month commitment that focused on land records, human resources, and administrative law.
RFP for land records and vital record book restoration was completed and bids awarded to Joseph Marrotti, Inc., and Brown’s River Restoration Company. This $1.6 million restoration project over the next five years will preserve marriage and land records for the next 50 to 75 years.
Performance reports through crystal reports initiated for Administration and Supervisory Teams. Individual, area, scan, temp to perm, and perm times are monitored for high efficiency.
An English and Spanish version Marriage Kiosk will be available for customers in the Greensboro and High Point offices and online by mid-November.
A comprehensive cross-training program for ROD front line staff implemented in July 2007. The goal is to training as many staff as possible in Recording, Vitals, Vault, and Indexing areas.
Redaction of Social Security numbers on Land Records from 1982-forward began in September 2007. This project will run 8 million images through OCR technology and ROD staff will verify images to be redacted.
Electronic Recording Testing is complete and ROD to begin taking cancellations in December 2007.
Security cameras installed in Greensboro and High Point offices.
A comprehensive study was done regarding public records laws in North Carolina relating to land and vital records and online access of records. This study concluded in the Register of Deeds taking significant actions to enhance data security procedures.
Registration and Authentication for online access of Vital Records Abstracts initiated in November 2007. This will provide additional access and secured access for online vital abstracts.
Notary, plat, and assumed name books were scanned, edited, and are now searchable in the land records search.
Individual scanners installed in High Point to reduce the amount of time between recordation and scanning of land record documents.
All ROD staff participated in conflict resolution training in the Spring 2007. The training goals have been to enhance problem solving and interpersonal skills among staff as performance and cross training are increasingly emphasized.
Audit software program created for Indexing that allows the Register of Deeds office to audit the permanent index to find and correct errors in spelling, etc that might create liability issues.
Comprehensive review of Indexing rules for Register of Deeds office has been initiated. Rex Minneman with NC Secretary of State will participate as an advisory resource for the review. This is the 1st review of Indexing rules since 1997.
The Register of Deeds is an active participant in the Guilford Strategic Alliance and has helped organize five focus groups- Immigrants; Education, Foundations, News and Record and Judicial groups.