eRecording is latest addition aimed at digitizing documents
With hundreds of documents coming into the St. Charles Parish Clerk of Court’s Office a day by hand or mail, the addition of eRecording to allow electronic submission of them comes as welcome news.
“A lot of clerks in the country are going in this direction and now we’re able to do it, too,” said Clerk of Court Lance Marino. “We’ve already made great strides in making documents available electronically – submission is the key word.”
Marino said it’s the latest move by his office to serve the public more efficiently and to help do their business digitally rather than travel to the courthouse.eRecording’s convenience is significant when considering the workload.
“Daily, we’re talking about hundreds, if not tens of hundreds, daily,” Marino said of how many documents come to his office. “We’re talking about attorneys, notaries, title companies, etc. that do business with the Clerk of Court office.”
All documents are backed up digitally and on microfilm, which also makes them more readily and more quickly available to the general public, he said.
Marino said the addition of the eRecording process is a longtime coming, a project he has been working on since he took office in 2012. The digital infrastructure had to be in place before the process could be implemented.
The addition also represents the office’s continuing move toward handling documents digitally.
“State legislation allows us to do it that way,” Marino said. “It protects records and solves paper storage problems to a great degree.”
Older historical documents are sent to the Louisiana State Archives in Baton Rouge and others are kept in local storage, he said.
“While we have not shredded or destroyed one page, at some point, the state will allow us, through a records retention schedule, to do so,” Marino said. “But we are in no hurry to discard records until they’re all electronically copied, stored and available on backup on microfilm.”
Cost savings on records storage space is helping cover the expense of eRecording.
eRecording is a government priority. Federal and state legislation have established the legal basis for secure electronic recording, and dozens of states and counties are already using eRecording.
“Over 128 years of experience in land and court records management has positioned Cott Systems to provide an array of software and services solutions to bring automation and efficiency to various processes involved in the workflow of the Clerk’s office,” said Dave Hall, Cott Systems Product Development Manager. “Our eRecording solution provides Hahnville and its constituents with innovative eRecording services that automate and accelerate recording workflow, and both streamline and improve the quality of services provided by the Office.”
Anyone who would like to get the instructions on how to submit a document electronically can visit scpclerkofcourt.com.
Be the first to comment