Lawrence County commissioners approve contract for hosted online index books

At its Sept. 16 meeting, the Lawrence County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to approve and sign a contract to host the county's index books online, a move County Recorder Laurie Morris said will expand public access to records.

The contract, submitted by the recorder's office, was approved by roll-call vote: Commissioner Finley — yes; Commissioner Holiday — yes; Commissioner Copley — yes. The motion and second were recorded on the meeting record; the transcript does not identify the individual commissioners who made the motion and second.

Recorder Laurie Morris said the office already meets required online-compliance standards but is seeking to add older records to the searchable index. “Our office is already compliant with everything that has to be online, but I'm just trying to go a little bit further back and get as much on as we can for our our people that use our online index,” Morris said during the meeting. She told commissioners the project will “take all of our miscellaneous stuff all the way back to the beginning, and then we'll just be working with, mortgages over the next couple of years.”

Commissioners noted the convenience for residents who access records after hours. One commissioner observed that users appreciate being able to search records “in the evening time” rather than traveling to the courthouse, and described the upgraded system as “more user friendly.”

The contract covers hosting multiple indexes and is intended to allow remote searches of historical miscellaneous records and, later, recorded mortgages. The recorder's office did not provide a specific implementation timeline for when older materials will be fully searchable.

The approval was taken as a single consent-agenda item during the meeting; no related ordinance or statute was cited during the discussion. The transcript records no amendments or conditions attached to the contract approval.