Kosciusko County Council voted Thursday to establish a fund for the county recorder's office to receive payments from a company making public records available online.
County Recorder Deb Wright told the council the county has a contract with online records company Doxpop to provide all county records that are public information, which Doxpop will make available on the Internet for a fee.Wright said providing the information for Doxpop will make it more convenient for people to access. Doxpop users will pay a fee to the company, and the company will pass the $1 per page copy fee on to the county recorder's office.
Councilman Bob Sanders, who owns a local title company, said providing the records online could have a negative effect on his industry as out-of-town companies could obtain the information and provide it to local customers at a lower price.
"We're creating a vehicle for the world to come into Kosciusko County and do what people who are already here are doing, and they're going to put them out of business," Sanders said. "It just takes your local people out of the picture."
Wright said she does not think the contract with Doxpop will harm local companies. She said she wants to make obtaining county records more convenient for taxpayers. Currently, individuals can obtain copies of records by visiting the recorder's office and paying the copy fee or by mailing a request along with the copy fee. Wright said Doxpop just provides one more avenue for people to get the information.
Wright said the records will most likely become available on www.doxpop.com beginning next month. She said a link to the site will be included on Kosciusko County's Web site, www.kcgov.com
Wright told the council the arrangement with Doxpop is a one-year contract. She said she plans to discuss the arrangement with them again after six months to assess whether the program has had a negative or positive impact locally.
