Clerk of court posts public information online

Web posted December 18, 1999

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By Jennifer Foster
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

On Nov. 1, Manatee County, Fla., went public -- literally.

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R.B. ``Chips'' Shore, clerk of the circuit court, posted all public documents recorded in the county since 1978 on a Web site -- including mortgages, deeds, liens, divorce settlements, affidavits, bankruptcies, contracts, financial statements, judgments, marriage licenses, powers of attorney, death certificates and wills. The site, www.clerkofcourts.com, is the first known site to provide such information for free.

Q: What was the impetus for putting records online?

A: There wasn't any impetus. This has been our goal from the beginning. My concept in the office is that these records all belong to the public, and they ought to be as accessible as possible. We've been trying to do this for 10 years, and it's just that technology is allowing us to do it now with the advent of the Internet.

Q: How much information is included on the site?

A: Oh, I couldn't even begin to tell you. It's in the millions of pages. Actually, the way we've done it, it's actually made it easier for us because now we scan everything that comes in, and we're doing our microfilm from our scans electronically. In Florida, we have to preserve the record for a minimum of 200 years, and microfilm is the only accepted form of doing it now. And it also made it easier for us to scan, because we had really good microfilm before, and we just simply digitized the microfilm. That's why we were able to put so many images out there.

Q: How long did it take from the beginning of the project?

A: We started seven years ago with the imaging. But we knew this was going to come about; we just weren't able to get there under the old system. But under the new one with the Internet and being able to have our own Web page, it's allowed us to do it.

Q: Did you run into any resistance during the project?

A: Very little. And it seems to center around Social Security numbers (which are not blacked out on the documents) more than anything else, but it hasn't been as great as I expected. I think we've had three maybe four calls on it. We're trying to work with the Legislature in finding out an answer on the Social Security question. We'd just as soon not put (numbers) out there, but the law requires us to now.

Q: What are people around town saying?

A: I've had tremendous feedback from almost everywhere. We've gotten e-mails from California, from everywhere. It's just amazing. And I don't know how they're finding out about it.

Q: Any comments on what this means for freedom of information or open records access?

A: You can't have it two ways. You can't have the information at hand for everybody and have public information and not have it out there. As for our system, I can't find anybody else that you can look up official records as far back and as quickly. There are some other systems out there, but I've never found one like this. And maybe there is, I don't know. We just don't know about them. To the best of our knowledge, there isn't anybody else out there that's doing this. Some of the counties here have it, but they only go back one year. But they bought theirs from somewhere.

Q: Suggestions for anyone who might want to put their public records online?

A: Nerves of steel. It's just a lot of work, it takes good people. I always say the best job I do here is to hire good people.