Ohio County Clerk Offers To Downsize Office Space
Joselyn King Trending
Ohio County Clerk Mike Kelly is offering to downsize the space his office occupies in the City-County Building by nearly half if county officials can find a place to store about 26 tons of deed books presently taking up space in his office.
Space also is "pretty tight" in the prosecutor's office, which could benefit from the opportunity if the clerk's office downsizes, County Administrator Russell explained.
"But the first challenge is we need to find a place to store those books," he added. It also has to be a dry space that is temperature controlled and capable of storing the large tomes.
Kelly told commissioners his 26-ton weight estimate only includes the weight of those books in his office -- not their heavy shelving, or the books and shelving presently stored at the Ohio County Public Library.
"That adds another component to our search," Russell continued. "We have to make sure there is a structure capable of holding the books."
He said he and County Project Manager Melissa Marco have been considering any property becoming available "in the last six to eight months," but that as of yet they have not had any success.
Commissioner Don Nickerson said he has already discussed the matter with the prosecutor's office, and felt it was time to put the issue on the agenda for formal discussion.
Kelly noted the availability of digital technology makes it unnecessary to keep the physical books on site.
"Nothing can happen until we get the books out of the area," Kelly said of his office. "But since we went online Feb. 23, to this date we haven't had 70 people in our offices doing title searches. And the ones who do come in basically come in because they wanted to get out of their office and see some other faces. The online record search has really been a tremendous success.
"Why keep those books on the shelves doing nothing?"
Kelly said he believes taking out the books would free up about 2,000 square feet in his office, which would leave him with the remaining 2,400 square feet.
Removing the books, however, will take some time because of how much each weighs, he continued. Kelly estimates the books weigh at least 22 pounds each, and because of their age they are fragile.
He suggested they not be stacked on top of each other, but lined up vertically on shelves.
West Virginia law presently requires county clerks to maintain the older books. But Kelly suggested if the books can be scanned and their details kept the physical books are no longer needed.
He said the county clerks need to partner to lobby the legislature to change the law.
Solicitor Don Tennant said there possibly could be some objection by historians who would not want the books destroyed.
"They can have them," Kelly said.
Commissioners will next meet at 6 p.m. on Sept. 19 at the City-County Building.