Clerk and elections offices outline e-recording, live-streaming plans and supervisor of elections relocation

The county clerk's office and a county staff presenter updated the Board of County Commissioners on July 16 about e-recording growth, online payments and plans to equip a new service center for live-streaming of board meetings; county staff also briefed the board on the supervisor of elections' relocation to a new Bushnell facility.

Clerk operations and e-services: The clerk's office reported it has expanded e-recording, added online payments for traffic and criminal fines, and had a recent day with about $10,000 in online payments. The clerk's presenter said the office is moving routine services online, using an invoice-processing module to reduce email traffic and piloting e-signature tools, and that staff have experience in customer-service systems intended to support live-streaming and other public records functions.

Live-streaming and records: County staff reiterated that live-streaming is not a statutory requirement but said the new service center will be equipped to record and stream meetings; the clerk's office remains responsible for retention of meeting records. County staff flagged audio, minutes and recordkeeping as the critical components and said those responsibilities remain with the clerk.

Supervisor of elections relocation: A county staff member briefed the board on the supervisor of elections' planned move to a new Bushnell office and warehouse. Staff said the new location's final installations were in progress and that the only outstanding equipment noted in the briefing was a generator; county staff said the current generator on site did not fit and the county expects it to be removed before move-in. The supervisor of elections' move will free space to consolidate purchasing and related warehouse functions, staff said.

What was not decided: These updates were informational; no formal actions were taken during the workshop.