More Scanning Ahead for Ohio County Clerk’s Office
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WHEELING - Producing hardbound books filled with government records costs taxpayers a lot of money, and the space they occupy is also valuable.
With that in mind, Ohio County Clerk Mike Kelley is continuing efforts to digitize all of the county's records, including wills, deeds and deeds of trusts - also known as mortgages.
In total, Kelley estimates he and Deputy Clerk Becky Britton have scanned more than 3.3 million images of county records, including land book records dating back to 1845. These are all available online.
Now some information previously thought missing in old deed of trusts books from the 1950s has resurfaced. It was found on microfilm stored at the Iron Mountain document storage and solutions facility northwest of Philadelphia.
Over the years, employees had noticed there were some older deed of trusts books that were missing. That wasn't a major concern as deeds of trusts are only good for 35 years, Kelly explained. But it was discovered the records from the missing books were actually in storage at Iron Mountain. They had been microfilmed and sent to Iron Mountain during the 1950s, and Ohio County has been paying the storage fee ever since, Kelly said. He suspects the original hardbound books were somehow destroyed.
Seven years ago, the storage fee at Iron Mountain was $3,500 annually and it has been continually rising, he said. For fiscal year 2023-24, the price was $8,500.
"Every year, it gets more and more expensive," Kelly said. "My thought is, 'Why do we have them there?' We have this stuff online now, and have it backed up in multiple ways. Why are we still paying this storage fee?"
The information from the microfilm is now going to be digitized and placed online.
In addition, the clerk's office has every deed in Ohio County dating back to the 1770s available online, and there is no need to keep on site deed of trust books older than 35 years, Kelly said.
County commissioners recently allocated $4,500 to the county clerk for the purpose of further digitizing county records.
"When I first started this project, the West Virginia code stated 'the clerk shall produce books,'" Kelley noted. "So, if you are producing books, and you're downloading everything on to your website, it's redundant and you're running out of space. So that had to come to an end."
Kelly worked with Senate Majority Whip Ryan Weld, R-Brooke, to craft and pass legislation eliminating the need to create books of documents if their contents - deeds and wills - are downloaded and backed up, he continued.
"That was great," Kelly said. "We don't have to produce any more recent books.
"But I also put in there if the clerk scans their old records, they don't have to keep those books in their office. That is really going to be a huge advantage right now."
A section of the Ohio County Clerk's Office at its south end is presently filled with the books that are rarely if ever accessed by the public, and Kelley suggests the space they occupy could be better utilized.
The Ohio County Prosecutor's Office, which neighbors the clerk's office on the opposite side, is very jammed and could use additional square footage, he noted.
If county officials find a place and can move those books away from the clerk's office, then the clerk's office could downsize within its existing space, he continued. Kelley could relocate his own personal office to the south end of the office where books are presently stored, and his current office and a kitchen next door could be added to the prosecutor's office.
The move would give the prosecutor's office about 2,000 square feet of extra space for its staff, according to Kelly.
"And my staff, for the first time, would be able to be physically together in the same area," he said. "That will help us in cross training, and it will help us if somebody is having trouble answering a question (for a visitor). An experienced person will be there to assist."
Kelly's idea also would include about four stations with computers for the public to do searches when they do come into the office.
Most county record searches are now done online, he said.
"Since we went online, we have very few people who come in to do title work," Kelly said. "And those who do are attorneys who just want to get out of the office."
Only about 70 people have come into the office to do title searches in the last 10 months, according to Kelley.
"Why should I sit here in this space and have all those books that aren't being used anymore?" he asked. "That's just too valuable of real estate holding books that no one needs."