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Report suggests ways to improve county recorder's office
By M.K. Guetersloh
mkguetersloh@pantagraph.com
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BLOOMINGTON -- Controlling the public's access to the office and increasing the staff are among the suggestions to make the McLean County Recorder's Office run more efficiently.

McLean County Recorder Lee Newcom asked for the efficiency evaluation of his office as time to process documents and put them in the mail slowed considerably.

The report, issued by the Northbrook-based management evaluation firm Maximus, will be forwarded next week to the McLean County Board for information.

Finance Committee chairman Matt Sorensen said action from the report may come next month, when the committee considers hiring a temporary employee for full-time employment. The report said Newcom's office is adequately staffed with seven full-time employees. The office is operating with six full-time and one temporary employee.

"The consultant is confident that seven is the right number for staff size in that office," Sorensen said.

Calls to Newcom's office Monday were not returned.

The report was tough on Newcom when it came to looking at why the office's rate of getting documents -- such as land deeds -- in the mail dropped from an average of about three days to more than 30 days.

"The report probably looks a little harsher than it really is," Sorensen said. "If anything, it is confirmation that the work Lee is doing is good."

Most of the delay comes from Newcom adding a step to check some of the information, such as the spelling of names, used in the recorder's database to search for documents.

Although document turnaround time has improved, County Administrator John Zeunik said a few more changes will be made to the physical layout of the office to help limit public access. Records, such as those kept on residents' military service, are not in a secure location.

"This will improve the security on sensitive records and it will cut down on the distractions to employees," Zeunik said.

Maximus also said the office staff continues to encounter problems changing methods from previous recorders. Zeunik said the changes are procedural and not financial. The office passed an audit by Clifton and Gunderson of Peoria, Zeunik added.

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Reader comments on this story - 5 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

Ummm wrote on Aug 14, 2007 1:47 PM:

" Lee sounds like you are pretty defensive, which usually means something is being hidden. "

Lee Newcom wrote on Aug 14, 2007 10:47 AM:

" The report, requested by me, affirms what I have been reporting to the County Board for the past year. The excellent working relationship with the county board has helped to improve the accuracy, accountability and efficiency of the Recorder’s office. This report helps. "Checking the spelling of names" is far more important than those words would suggest. Any data entry office requires quality control to ensure that the record is correctly entered and will be searchable by computer. This was not in the Recorder's office before my tenure, resulting in thousands of records that are unsearchable, exacting a cost to financial institutions, title searchers and holding up some commercial development. The consultant called my addition of this function "essential." The time-to-mail issue was also discussed as being directly linked to this addition, solved by the addition of the needed employee to perform it. These issues were covered at the public Board meeting the Pantagraph was unable to attend. I was away for part of a single day, 5 days after it’s release, when the reporter, on a short deadline, could not reach me in one call. "

Sir Isaac Newton XXX wrote on Aug 14, 2007 8:50 AM:

" Might I suggest a conveyor belt with rubber stamper device. "

Is it Election time yet? wrote on Aug 14, 2007 8:47 AM:

" Wow three more days for checking the spelling of names, such efficiency! "

Sonny Liston wrote on Aug 13, 2007 8:39 PM:

" Unionize it! Can you imagine how this could improve things. Ha ha ha ha. "
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