 Welcome to Sheboygan County government working for you. My name is Adam Payne. I'm the Sheboygan County administrative coordinator. And with me today is Chairman Bill Gehring. We both co-host the program. And whether you're getting married, having a child, thinking about refinancing a mortgage, buying a new home, buying land, or looking for a birth certificate, you will need the services of the Register of Deeds office. And with us today, our guest is Darlene Novus, Register of Deeds. Darlene, why don't you start by sharing a little bit about yourself and your roles and responsibilities as our Register of Deeds. OK, thank you, Adam. Yes, my name is Darlene Novus. I've been the Register of Deeds for Sheboygan County since 1983. I'm a native of Sheboygan County. I'm married to my husband Ron. We have three children. And as you mentioned, the name I think of our office is a little misleading. We do Register of Deeds, but we do far more than that. And it's a complex office. It affects many people's lives. And if you continue to live in Sheboygan County, you will almost certainly come into contact with us, or your records will be recorded in our office. We have approximately 2 million land records or 2 million records located in our office. And the real estate records, such as the deeds, the mortgages, and other land records, basically represent approximately $6 billion worth of real estate that lies within the confines of Sheboygan County. And we basically, the recorded conveyance or deed is the basis of the tax bill that most county taxpayers receive. Other significant duties are the administration of births, marriages, and deaths, the recording of military discharges, recording of IRS tax liens, foreclosure documents. And I also do voter registration and genealogy, provide genealogy information. Darlene is a Register of Deeds, and you do a lot of information out there. But I want to make sure the public understands your role. You were first elected when? In 1983. And at the county board meeting just this week, you received a service award pin for 83 for 20 years of service, dedicated service to Sheboygan County. So congratulations. Well, thank you. A snapshot of your roles and responsibilities, what do you see as the primary responsibilities of the office? Well, we have, there are several. Basically, I think the land records are probably very significant. We also collect a significant amount of revenue. In our small office last year, we collected $2.03 million. And the collecting of those revenues and their distribution that's very important. Again, when I talked about another very significant part is the vital records program. The vital record is particularly the birth record. Once I take that record, my signature goes on it. I accept it for registration. It then becomes a legal record. And the birth record is probably the most significant record you will ever have, since it is the basis of your identification and your citizenship. I know I heard on the radio just today that the census was recently done. And we have a little over 112,000 people living in Sheboygan County, a lot of people buying land, buying a new home, having a child, getting married, certainly a lot of people that are relying on the services of your department. How many staff work in the registered needs office? We have a small staff of eight people, including myself. We have a budget of about $550,000. And as I mentioned, we collected $2.03 million last year. And that's sort of unusual for a governmental office. All of the fees that we collect are statutory in nature. About half of the fees go to the state of Wisconsin to various programs. And then the rest of it goes into the general fund except for, well, there are two actually other funds that are the Land Records Modernization Fund and the Public Access Fund. And that was over $200,000 last year we collected for those two programs. So as our viewers think about county governments and many of them may be aware, we have 23 departments, your department is really rather unique. You have a close working relationship with the business community. You're certainly handling a varied number of different documents and very important documents. Talk a little bit about that uniqueness, especially in regards to how your documents are stored and have recorded and the use of technology over time. Well, we do have a very, actually it is unusual. And number one, we actually, it's good news for the county taxpayers that we collect so much revenue because it actually makes your tax bill go down. We have a very unique working relationship with financial institutions and lending agencies since each time a property is sold or a mortgage is taken out, the real estate attorneys and title companies come to our office, do a search of that particular property, order various documents, copies of documents to be made for closing. And then once the closing takes place, those documents, such as the release of the old mortgage, is recorded, the new mortgage is recorded and then the assignment or sale of that mortgage to the secondary market is also recorded. Another thing that is rather unique is our relationship with the credit bureau. We have credit people coming into our office every day who spend probably six, seven, eight hours a day just assessing our records and the records such as the IRS tax liens, the mortgages, foreclosure documents and so forth are the basis of your credit rating. You talked a little also a bit about our record storage and I think that's one of the things when we give tours of our office, that's one of the things that people are very interested in because you can see the technology as it has changed in the 150 years plus the Register of Deeds office has been in existence. Once a record is recorded in our office, it never becomes obsolete, it stays there forever. So at first we see the Register of Deeds wrote out the deeds with a quill pen and beautiful handwriting, very nice to look at. Then we see the typewriter was invented. So now the documents are typewritten and then we see the invention of the camera where they started to get concerned about records storage and they did a camera image, a reduced camera image of records and then we have about, the microfilm camera was invented, we have about 25 years of microfilm documents in our office and now since 1996 we have been using the scanning technology where we scan the records into our program and people can view the image on a computer screen. So it's really kind of fun to look at all of that. Very good, thank you. I mean, we've had very low interest rates, probably record low interest rates. People might not realize that that really does impact your office. Could you tell us how that has impacted your office? It has impacted our office. The lowest interest rates we're experiencing right now, the lowest interest rates we've seen in about 30 years and many, many people are refinancing and when, again, a document or when a mortgage is refinanced we see those three documents I mentioned earlier, the release, the new mortgage, which now is on average about 20 pages long, it used to be five or six pages, all of that has to be imaged into our system and generally we average on a per day basis about two to 400 documents, that's not per week, not per year, per day and we have had, really had to struggle with our turnaround time because of that, because of the overwhelming amount of documents in our office. But I do have to say it's not only due to refinancing, we did a statistical study, we went back seven years, back to 1996 and we found that our revenue collection, that's the good news, went up 43%, the documents recorded increased by 40% and the images scanned by 100% and searched and copy fees about 30% and genealogy searches 51%. So you can see we've really, our office has, the workload has greatly increased over the last few years. Could you talk about the process that you go through when somebody comes in with the deed to have it registered? Yes, the first thing we do when a document comes in, again, one of those two to 400 documents that comes in is we review it, we do a compliance review to be sure that it meets all the statutory requirements that are required. If it is a deed, it is accompanied by a tax, the Wisconsin Department of Revenue Tax Form. It has 86 questions on it. We have to be sure every one of those questions is answered, we add some information to that document and it's a confidential document. That document is then shared, a tax return I'm talking about with the tax list or so the tax roll can be changed and then it is sent into the Department of Revenue along with their share of the money and that particular document helps to determine the equalization value for Sheboygan County residents and the deed itself goes through another process after the monies are collected, it goes through a cash shearing system, the recording certificate is placed upon it, the exact time and date, then it goes to our indexers who index the names on the document, the grantor grantee so it can be found and it is tracked it against the legal description and that is, it's very exacting and technical work. It goes through a series of edits as well because if we make a mistake that can be real serious and the example that I give is if the bank sends us your satisfaction of mortgage and we must read that legal description and instead of satisfying your mortgage, we satisfy your neighbor's mortgage, you can imagine the problems that could occur. What other type of documents do you record? You talked a little bit about some of them but maybe you could list them? Well, we do list practically anything related to land records that could include holding tank agreements, subdivision plots, certified survey maps, easements, any type of land document really are some of the other things. We do, the military record is a document that people often aren't aware of. If you go into the military, you get a discharge record, it's recorded in my office and in order to get any kind of military benefit, you need to come and get a certified copy of that record and we work very closely with the veteran service officer in that respect. Okay, what type of fees do you collect for these services and are they uniformed statewide? Yes, they are uniformed statewide. They're statutory and I think the reason for that is because in order for business to be transacted, they wanted uniform fees throughout the state. And so the transfer fee is similar that we collect when a property is conveyed is similar to a sales tax and it's based upon value. If your house is sold for $100,000, for instance, we would collect $300 on the transfer fee tax. I understand you do provide remote access to certain folks, could you tell us about that? Yes, we do. We, again, some of the new technology that has been installed in our office, we now have seven remote access users and these are the folks that use our records consistently for hours every day, real estate attorneys, title insurance companies and so on. They can actually sit in their office, pull up our records and examine them in their office rather than coming to our office. And for the more casual users, maybe you use our records a half a dozen, dozen times a month, we have a program called Tapestry and it's an internet site where they can go to and use a credit card. If you come to our office, those that access to information is free. Currently, the state is working on a new budget. Are there any concerns in that budget or any budget proposals for your office? We, at this time, I don't really see any particular changes for our office. Perhaps that's because we collect so many revenues as it is at the moment. Just a follow up question on the revenue. You mentioned you collect what, a little over two? 2.03 million last year. And your operations are around 500,000 a year now. So our viewers are clear. Not all that revenue stays in Sheboygan County. About half of it does go to the state of Wisconsin. Last year it was 900 and some thousand dollars that went to the state. And as I mentioned, the transfer fee tax, in that particular case, the county gets 20% and the state gets 80%. Very good, very good. We've talked quite a bit about mortgages and land records or transfer of ownership. Let's talk a little bit about what often is a special time in a couple's life and that's having a child and the importance of having a birth certificate. Now your office maintains and records all birth certificates, do they not? That is correct. What's the process involved there? The birth certificate comes through the hospital and then to our office. I review it and the form is actually set by the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services. And once again, as I accept it for registration, then certified copies can be made. And for almost any significant event in your life, you will need a birth certificate to get a social security number, to register for school, to get your driver's license, to play sports, to go into the military, to get married, to get a job, and so forth. So to get social security, that's another significant milestone. But in all of those cases, a birth record is needed. So if someone loses their birth certificate, they can come to your office and how do they go about receiving that? Do they have to show any other identification? Yes, they need to bring identification with them, a photo ID, and a form is completed. They also, in order to get a certified copy, they have to have what is called a direct and tangible interest to the record. In other words, I can't just come in and get a copy of your record. It has to be yourself or a member of your family or an attorney representing you or something of that nature. Once the request is completed and the prepayable fee is paid, we will then do a search and issue the copy. We tell people, it normally takes about 10 to 15 minutes to accomplish all of that. We now have the forms available on our internet website as well to make things a little easier for people so they can access that form in their home if they wish. Now you said members of the family, if I wanted to get a birth certificate for my grandmother, would I be able to do that? Yes, you would be able to do that. And what would I need to provide then? You would need to provide identification, a photo ID. You would need to fill out the application which asks you what your relationship to the record holder is. And then you would fill out your name in the area below your name, your address, and so forth. Now speaking of family and connections, as you mentioned earlier in the program, people may wanna come in and do some research on their family tree. How can your office help them with that? Because our vital records go back to the 1800s, we have many family researchers who do come in. It's been really a hobby that's increased a great deal over the number of years. And if they decide to come in, what they should do is bring along, again, identification in order to go into our vital records room, they need to fill out a form. And on the form it asks if they need an orientation, which most people do the first time they come in and we can show them how to search out, how to use their indexes. The only thing they are able to bring into that room, though, is a paper and pencil. We do have free lockers where they can put their purses, briefcases, bags, and so forth. And there's also a high level of security. We have cameras and we want people and we make sure they don't leave with those documents, right? No, no, we don't have those things. But actually the two record storage areas are called vaults and they are called a vault because they have certain fire protection and locking systems because those records are very important. Very good. You mentioned earlier remote access that I know your department recently put into place and tapestry, which is more for the casual user. We also have a county website that we take a lot of pride in and Chairman Gehring was part of initiating. Recently you've added some additional information to that. Yes, we've been really, this past year, we really worked quite a bit at it. And some of those questions that we are asked frequently, particularly for various forms that need to be completed such as a vital record application, requests for copies of things. I also have links to various websites such as the Department of Revenue, the Bar Association and that type of thing. We try to put things on there that are asked frequently by our public. And speaking of our website, if there's any department you're interested in getting more information on, it's a very good resource to plug in as well as if you wanna learn more about who your county board supervisors are. Darlene, I know you've also taken an active role providing leadership at the state level. Why don't you touch on that for a few minutes? Yes, I've been fortunate to have headed up some organizations. I was Vice President and President of the Wisconsin Register of Deeds Association. I was also elected President of the Wisconsin County Constitutional Officers Association, and that covers all county elected officials. And I recently just finished up a stint with as President of the Wisconsin Association of County Officials. And I'm still on the board of directors there. Locally I have, I'm still on the board of the Shboyton County Historical Society that's been an interest of mine for a long time. And I also chaired one of their committees, their budget committee basically for the board. So you've had a good opportunity to connect with state legislators and share with them issues and concerns. And with over 200 laws that affect our office, there is usually somewhere along almost virtually in almost every session there's something that affects us. In the few minutes we have remaining, why don't we talk a little bit about some of your primary goals for the year ahead? I know you're continuously improving the department with technology and service to your primary users, but what are some of the things you'd like to see achieved in the future? OK, well we did. One of the things that is a concern to us is our turnaround time. We normally have real estate documents, which is normally 10 days. We are now at about eight weeks. And we would certainly like to improve that. We do have a plan. We are taking it to the county board and hopefully they will approve it to basically decrease that turnaround time because that can affect the equalization values for Shboyton County. If we cannot do things in a timely manner, it basically can hold up closings and landings and loan applications and loans. So that is a big concern. Keeping up with technology is also another concern and that's an ongoing one. Things change very quickly. We have looked at virtually all the processes in our office and continue to do that to see if they can become more efficient. And you work pretty closely with some of the other departments such as real property listing and clerk of courts? Yes, clerk of courts, the veterans service, the planning office, and again various documents that affect them. We also work very closely. I think there are six Wisconsin agencies that we send reports to or do various things such as the Department of Health and Family Services, the Department of Commerce in the weatherization program administration, the Wisconsin Department of Revenue, as I mentioned earlier, and the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions. There we work pretty closely with them as well. Very good. Well, we are pleased to have you with us today and a lot of valuable information for our viewers. If you weren't able to catch all of that or have questions, I know you could certainly contact Darlene or stop by her office. She has very capable staff and they do a good job. So again, thank you, Darlene, for joining us today. Next month, we're going to have our Veteran Services Officer with us, Jim Riesenberg. Jim provides a valuable service in the county working with 26 of our Veterans Associations and certainly has been getting more questions and clients coming in of late with some of the activities happening worldwide. So we look forward to Jim being with us to talk about some of the Memorial Day activities that are coming up and I imagine there'll be a heightened interest in participating and thinking about the sacrifices of the past. So again, we look forward to seeing you next month on behalf of myself and Chairman Bill Gehring. Thank you for joining us today. Because he was diagnosed with cancer as a baby. Because she was told she would not live to be nine. Because she should have a chance to grow up. Each year, thousands of children learn they have cancer or another deadly disease. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital needs your help to research cures and treat these children regardless of their parents' ability to pay because they deserve to dream. 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