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Lenders, appraisers press Osage County to restore appraisal portal after year of outages
Summary
Local lenders and the county appraiser's office told Osage County commissioners on June 9 that the county's appraisal portal has been intermittently down for about a year, blocking access to property sales and record-card data used for lending; staff were tasked with investigating vendors and contacts and will report back.
Osage County commissioners on June 9 heard from local lenders and appraisers who said the county's online appraisal portal has been intermittently offline for roughly a year, making it difficult for licensed appraisers and lenders to pull property record cards and recent sales information needed for loan underwriting.
"This is a big deal," said Jeff Clark, who said he was speaking on behalf of local lenders and appraisers. He described situations in which lenders and appraisers must call staff to obtain property record cards and comparable sales, a process that can require staff time and delay loan closings.
Why it matters: The portal provides property details and the most recent sales data that appraisers and lenders use to calculate values and underwrite loans. When the system is unavailable, Clark and other industry participants said they must rely on manual requests to county staff or third-party systems that may not have full sales information, which can slow or deter transactions.
County staff and the appraiser's office discussed options. An appraiser's office representative said the county still lists a legacy vendor (Amentum) the office no longer has access to, and that the state ORCA system exists but is less user-friendly. Staff noted other counties use free or low-cost platforms and suggested reviewing Franklin and Coffee counties' setups as possible models.
Cost and fee details were discussed. A participant estimated the prior full-service contract was "about $17,000" a year; county staff said licensed appraisers and lenders currently pay an annual $200 user fee and that a county-managed or free service might avoid per-transaction charges.
Next steps: Commissioners directed staff (Michelle and Carl) to investigate whether nonpayment or an expired contract is causing the outage, to contact CivicPlus (the county website vendor) and an in-house web contact (Barb) about replacing or relinking the portal, and to survey other counties for vendor contacts. Jeff Clark offered to share vendor lists and contacts. Staff said they will report back with findings and options.
No formal policy decision was made; commissioners asked staff to return with recommendations and contact information so the county can either restore the current service or transition to a workable alternative.
