November/December 1997
      Projects in Progress

The Office of the Maricopa County Recorder is responsible for maintaining a comprehensive set of public records and for making these records easily accessible for viewing by the public. The recorder’s office is mandated to record, index, and preserve documents as permanent public record.

In July 1997, the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office linked its approximately 12 million land-record documents to the Internet. Documents dating back to September 3, 1991, are now available electronically, while indexes go back to January 1, 1983. The purpose of this $30,000 endeavor was to alleviate the overcrowded conditions for customers in the recorder’s office in Phoenix. The project was deemed an instant success, as more than 300 people access the Web site daily. The documents viewed on the Internet are watermarked "Unofficial Record." By law, all official copies of land records must be produced by the recorder’s office. Viewers can request an official document by phone or fax.

In September 1991, the recorder’s office selected a FileNet WorkFlo and document imaging solution using front-end software called the Recorder’s Document Information System. Today, the recorder’s office has 120 FileNet image-enabled PC workstations recording between 3,000 and 8,000 new documents daily. The recorder’s office has developed all of the customized WorkFlo and AS/400 software in-house. The software has been licensed and is available for purchase. To create a Web service, the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office installed FileNet’s new Connector software to execute queries and retrieve documents. Wall Data, Inc., software allows for queries to the AS/400 database. County programmers wrote the Web application in approximately six weeks. A future effort will be to decrease the time it takes to download images from the Web site.

For more information, contact project director Barbara Frerichs at the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office, 111 South 3rd Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85003, (602) 506-7866. The document imaging system may be viewed at http://156.42.40.50/recorder/imaging/PublicAccess.htm.