Mark A. Ladd

OPERATING AUTHORITY AND PURPOSE

The Register of Deeds office is established in the constitution of the State of Wisconsin with its duties prescribed by State Statutes, predominately section 59.43. The office is the custodian of real estate recordings, vital records and Uniform Commercial Code filings for Racine County. The real estate records maintained in the office form the foundation of the County's Geographic Information System which is maintained by the Planning & Development department.

ACHIEVEMENT OF PERFORMANCE GOALS

One of our goals for this year was to record smoothly, efficiently and cost-effectively the 55,000-plus documents presented for recording each year, and we are on track to achieve that goal. Although the office is currently staffed to process 175 real estate documents each day, the actual number of documents being processed is 201 per day.

2002 GOALS AND BUDGET STRATEGIES

•  Continue to pursue implementation of credit card payment for Vital Records requests.
   
•  Continue participation in the development of national data standards necessary to implement electronic recording of real estate documents.
   
•  Pilot test and implement an electronic recording system as soon as data standards are published.
   
•  Work with the State Department of Financial Institutions toward the smooth transition of UCC filings from the County to the DFI. This duty is currently a drain on the resources of this office. Having the DFI assume this responsibility over the next five years will be a benefit to the County.