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County clerk reports delays in electronic records upload; fee cut reduces archive revenue and may require transfer
Summary
The county clerk presented the annual archives plan, reporting Kofile/Cofile upload and indexing errors that delayed the public portal upload and a state fee reduction that cut revenues and may require a budget transfer to finish contract payments.
Aransas County’s county clerk presented the annual archive plan to the Commissioners Court and reported problems with the vendor’s indexing that delayed uploading historical electronic records to the public portal, along with a legislative fee change that reduced certain filing revenues.
The clerk said Kofile (contract referenced as Cofile/Kofile in discussion) used AI to index records and that initial indexing produced unreadable characters and misindexed subdivision descriptors; the vendor is working on corrections. The clerk said she sends biweekly follow‑ups to Kofile and the Eagle (the public portal) to keep the project moving.
The clerk also reported fee reductions that removed $1 from many filings, noting that revenue from the $3.50 and $4.50 funds is down about half compared with the prior year. She said that while some fee increases for certified copies (birth, death, marriage certificates) were available through OCA guidance, the lost filing fee revenue means the clerk will likely need a budget transfer next August to finish payments to Kofile. The clerk said total project expenditures to date are $1,770,060.20 and that the project is projected to come in about $1 million under earlier estimates, excluding future storage costs.
The clerk emphasized that she will not move records back into the county clerk’s office until the office meets compliance standards and asked the court to consider budgeting or creating a reserve to finish the Kofile contract when the reduced filing revenue creates a shortfall.
Why it matters: The archival project affects public access to land and court records and the county’s compliance with records management. The vendor‑led indexing issues and reduced fee revenue create timing and budgeting considerations for completing the contract and meeting compliance before records are returned to county custody.
Action: The court approved the annual archive plan as presented; staff and the clerk will continue to coordinate vendor fixes and budget planning.
