Pondera County OKs $3,200 purchase of seven replacement land-record books; digitization work continues

The Pondera County Commission approved a purchase of seven replacement books for land and meeting records at a cost of about $3,200, to be paid from the clerk and recorder’s records preservation fund.

The clerk and recorder told the commission the preservation fund accumulates approximately $1 from every recorded document; the office balance in the transcript was stated as about $32,000, which a commissioner noted is sufficient to cover the purchase. Commissioners said the seven books are replacements for damaged record volumes used by the public, and the land records book was singled out as the most degraded and frequently used.

Commissioners and staff also discussed ongoing digitization efforts. Staff said the office is scanning pre-microfilm books and migrating images from microfilm into Square 9 because some microfilm holdings are degrading. The plan is to place records into Square 9 and make searchable copies available to the public via DocuPro (the transcript also referenced iDoc Market as an access point). DocuPro users pay access fees; staff said the vendor takes a cut of those user fees rather than the county paying a flat subscription in all cases.

A motion to purchase the seven books was made, seconded and carried by voice vote. Commissioners said the long-term goal is to make scanned records back to 1919 permanently available online, though staff cautioned that full completion would take time and that ongoing hardware and preservation needs (servers, new computers) remain.

The commission did not attach additional funding commitments or a completion timeline for full digitization during the meeting.