During July 8 committee discussion of change orders and finance reports, councilors raised a problem: the county's existing contract with a title-guarantee provider may not be sufficient to obtain clear title on tax-delinquent properties, complicating tax-sale and foreclosure efforts.

Council Member Kimball asked about a contract with Title Guarantee; Real Property Tax Administrator Lisa Murrah said Title Guarantee is the incumbent and the contract includes an option year. Murrah told the committee the vendor is the only bidder for title services that provide litigation guarantees for real property tax sales and that the company typically can handle up to 200 properties per tax sale cycle.

Why it matters: Without clear title, the county cannot complete auctions or pursue judicial foreclosure on some properties with very large tax delinquencies; the committee discussed a specific example of a parcel with more than $200,000 in unpaid taxes where title issues stalled sale and enforcement.

Details from the meeting
- Title Guarantee role: Murrah said the vendor performs preliminary title searches and runs updates immediately before and after tax sales to identify recordations that could affect the county's interest.
- Capacity: Murrah said Title Guarantee's practical limit is roughly 200 properties per tax sale cycle; the county currently has no alternative vendor identified.
- Councilor concern: The chair and other members asked staff to consider other mechanisms to resolve properties that cannot get clear title, including judicial foreclosure or alternative title-reporting methods.

Action taken: The committee considered communication 24.12 (report of change orders and related finance reports) and voted to close the file on that communication as part of the consent items; the committee also asked staff to return with options to address the title-clearance bottleneck.

Ending note: Councilors directed staff to explore additional mechanisms or vendors to obtain clear title on tax-delinquent parcels and to report back to the committee.