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Hamilton County register seeks PR firm to boost free property-fraud alert program
Summary
Register of Deeds Gravatt asked the commission to accept Mason Carmichael LLC’s proposal to promote a free property-fraud alert program intended to notify property owners when documents are recorded; funding will come from the register’s data-processing account. No final vote is recorded in the transcript.
Register of Deeds Gravatt asked commissioners to accept a proposal from Mason Carmichael LLC to provide public-relations services aimed at increasing enrollment in a free property-fraud alert program.
Gravatt said the county has about "175,000 to a 180,000 parcels of real estate" but only about 4,100 people have signed up for the alert service since he introduced it five years ago. "This is a free service for the citizens of Hamilton County," he said, and added the notifications work for owners and renters: if a power of attorney or other document is recorded in the Register of Deeds office, program subscribers will be notified immediately and can be connected with Detective Mitchell in the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office fraud division.
Commissioners asked how the effort would be funded. Gravatt said the cost would come from his data-processing account and that only the Register of Deeds can use those funds. He described a competitive procurement process: purchasing circulated an RFP that returned four proposals and his office selected Mason Carmichael, a woman-owned business in Hamilton County with prior government and nonprofit work.
Several commissioners voiced support. Commissioner Highlander said constituents had asked why a PR firm was necessary and accepted Gravatt’s explanation that the work is narrower than general marketing and is designed to "let people know of a valuable free service." Commissioner Baker and others discussed targets and goals: Gravatt said his one-year enrollment goal is a minimum of 10,000 participants and ideally 20,000, up from 4,100 at present. "You'll be notified immediately whenever my staff record that document in our office," Gravatt said, adding the alert can bring the sheriff’s fraud division into the response quickly.
Commissioners also offered to help distribute printed enrollment forms at neighborhood meetings; Commissioner Beck volunteered to take several hundred brochures. Commissioner Graham said he would support the item when it returns next week.
No formal vote or final outcome on the resolution is recorded in the provided transcript.
