Released: November 10, 2023
Adoption of powerful government records search engine is the latest modernization effort to be undertaken by Delaware County’s Recorder of Deeds Office
The Delaware County Recorder of Deeds Office, under the leadership of Director Robert A. Auclair, Esq., is continuing its efforts to modernize Delaware County’s land record systems and improve services for Delaware County residents. Later this year, Delaware County will become just the third county in Pennsylvania to make GovOS Cloud Search — the most powerful government records search engine available on the market — available to its residents.
The Delaware County Recorder of Deeds Office, which serves as the County’s custodian of all land records and indexes relating to properties and land transfers, had long lagged well behind other counties prior to innovations introduced by Director Auclair and his staff.
Services required in-person visits to the office
Online services and eRecordings were unavailable
Payments were restricted to cash or check
Older records were often of low quality and poorly organized, often resulting in tedious manual document searches and lengthy delays for residents and businesses
In 2019, recognizing that significant improvements were necessary, Director Auclair began a comprehensive search for a land records software management system capable of meeting the needs of Delaware County residents and businesses.
“In 2019, our land records were still not online, and we were one of the largest counties in the country that was not set up for eRecording,” explained Director Auclair. “Everything, including title searching, was handled entirely in the office, and we knew the office could do better for Delaware County residents.”
After a thorough vendor evaluation process, including consultation with neighboring counties, the County identified GovOS, a leading provider of digital transformation services and software for local governments with agreements with more than 800 cities, counties, and states. With County Council’s review and approval, and with funding support from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020, the Recorder of Deeds Office began its modernization efforts.
“The Recorder of Deeds Office under Director Auclair has really been a quiet but impressive success story,” said Delaware County Councilmember Christine Reuther. “We’ve been impressed with their modernization efforts and have been happy to make sure the office has the resources it needs to provide the quality service that residents and businesses expect.” CARES Act funding from 2020 was later joined by ARPA funding, also approved by Council, to continue the Office’s various modernization efforts.
Modernization Accomplishments Since 2020
Beginning in 2020, the Recorder of Deeds Office and GovOS have launched a variety of successful modernization initiatives:
Adopted eRecording processes that made land record services available online, (since the eRecording go-live, the Office has brought more than 12 million records online, and eRecordings now account for 86% of all submissions)
Made digital records more accurate and accessible
Reviewed 5 million County scanned property documents (and in the process discovered hundreds of old documents and microfilm records that had never been inventoried)
Converted all historical records — more than 35 million images in total — to PDF/A, a standardized file format that will allow faster archival cloud storage and retrieval.
Replaced old, impractical, and costly microfilm storage.
Launched Fraud Sleuth to help property owners safeguard themselves against property record fraud.
Began accepting credit card payments in the office and online
Instituted a disaster recovery system that would, in the event of a problem with the County server, allow the office to continue to conduct business without any significant disruption.
Coming Soon: GovOS Cloud Search
Now, the Recorder of Deeds Office is preparing to enable GovOS Cloud Search, which will make millions of county public records even more accessible and searchable by providing Delaware County residents with a Google-like search capability, and also enable individuals to purchase certified copies online along with documents and index prints.
The County will provide additional updates later in the year when GovOS Cloud Search comes online. For more information about GovOS’ Official Public Records solution, visit govos.com/official-public-record.