Notification Service Offered—

Clerks Office Blocking Sensitive Info On Web

By John Voket

Town Clerk Debbie Aurelia has taken action after discovering some older property records accessible to subscribers through a title search and property information website contained viewable social security numbers and other private information. As of January 31, all files that might contain personal information have been blocked.

Town clerk’s office staff and interns have also been working to electronically redact information on the scanned files that are viewable through a new electronic records service that is serving a growing number of Connecticut towns and cities. Ms Aurelia said, however, that state law prevents her office from removing sensitive information from the original documents unless the subjects involved request the removal of specific information in writing.

The Newtown town clerk’s office recently joined dozens of other Connecticut communities providing a variety of land record documents to view or print out remotely. As one of the latest additions to the Connecticut Town Clerks Portal, the system provides added convenience to the users while generating revenue back to the town each time a document from local qualified land records are printed remotely by a subscriber.

“People need to know that these are public record and anyone who asks to see them can do so here in the office,” Ms Aurelia explained. Through the newly launched web service that is tied to the clerk’s in-house record-keeping system, Ms Aurelia said there is a paper trail and charge paid so it is possible to determine if any files containing information that might have temporarily appeared online to subscribers were actually viewed by anyone.

She has also acted to temporarily block all files that might contain viewable social security numbers, addresses, and other details until the electronic versions of those files are redacted. At that point the public records will be released for review by paying subscribers through the portal.

Ms Aurelia said that automating part of the records search and document printing process will permit her staff to refocus their time working with those who come in person to the municipal center offices, as well as continuing the process of scanning land use records into the town’s digital system, which will also supplement information available online.

The town clerk said many title searches go back 30 years or more, and to date, her office has accomplished scanning in land records going back roughly 25 years. But she noted that about 80 percent of Newtown’s land records have been generated in the past 20 to 30 years.

The Connecticut Town Clerks Portal website works in partnership with participating town clerk offices that use Cott Systems software for land and indexed records searching. Since the clerks’ offices are powered by Cott Systems, the portal’s integration can deliver users information, often within minutes of its recording.

Beginning no later than February 6, Ms Aurelia said her office will also begin signing up residents for the Cott Systems PropertyCheck system. She said PropertyCheck would help protect residents from potential property and mortgage fraud.

The 24/7 service allows residents to sign up on the town’s website to receive notifications of recordings on their property by activating alerts based on their name, property address, or parcel number. The software is free to both the town and its residents.

Cott Systems is a privately-owned software and service company serving counties in 19 states for 123 years.

“Records in many states are made available for viewing online at no cost or sometimes for a fee, which makes it easier to track recordings on your property, but it does require persistence and, in some cases, costs the taxpayer for access,” said Bob Mains, vice president of IT at Cott Systems. “This solution eliminates the time associated with doing a search on your name or property by alerting the resident by e-mail or text message when a document has been recorded that matches the alerts that they activated.”

Mr Mains also mentioned the optional redaction solution that Newtown is using to blank out sensitive data on public documents when made available online. 

Newtown residents can sign up for Cott PropertyCheck alerts at the town’s website at www.newtown-ct.gov/