County recorder asks commission to fund part-time position to finish historical indexing

Kim Cassian, Stark County Recorder, told the commission that while the county's records are digitized in the Eagle Recorder system, roughly 300,000 historical documents still need indexing and verification before being released to Endurant for public access.

"With our current staffing, we are able to keep up to our day-to-day operations, but we have not had time to work on indexing or verifying the backlog of historical documents," Cassian said. She outlined two payment scenarios for the remainder of 2026 and said preservation-fund revenue (about $3 per recorded document) has been accumulating; she estimated the preservation fund balance to be "roughly about maybe 460,000-ish." Cassian cautioned that contracting indexing through an outside firm (US Imaging) could cost $100,000–$200,000 and warned that would significantly draw down the preservation fund.

The recorder proposed changing a vacant full-time office specialist position to a regular part-time role beginning Aug. 1 and moving the deputy recorder into that part-time slot to focus on final verification. Cassian said the part-time wage would be about $23.50 per hour and estimated five months of funding from preservation at roughly $9,400 for the remainder of 2026.

Commissioners discussed options and approved a motion to fund the part-time position from the preservation fund for the remainder of the year, with the understanding that any contract with an indexing vendor would be presented for commission approval.

Cassian said she would return with contract details and costs if she pursues an outside vendor and that in-house verification would still be required even if automated indexing tools are used.