Speaker 1: Good morning, good morning, good morning, and welcome, welcome, welk me.
Speaker 1: It is time now for our community connection right here
Speaker 1: on K one, the one you trust. And first Fridays
Speaker 1: we always talked to our friends at the county and.
Speaker 2: Then that's Methy is here with us today. How are
Speaker 2: you doing, Annette?
Speaker 3: I'm doing great. How are you Tom?
Speaker 1: Well, it's always great to have you on board. You
Speaker 1: got so much going on here. It's been a busy fall.
Speaker 3: Yes it has.
Speaker 1: Yes, I understand. We have a couple of per cent
Speaker 1: IT bills. It take effects shortly that they could affect
Speaker 1: people here in Washington.
Speaker 4: County, and that is correct, a couple of them that
Speaker 4: take effect November first this year, one of them, and
Speaker 4: the County Clerks Association has worked for like ten years
Speaker 4: to get this passed. It is the documents that come
Speaker 4: in our office, and it's regarding the margins on the documents.
Speaker 4: Right now it's one inch on the top and then
Speaker 4: half inch on the sides, and effective November first, it'll
Speaker 4: be two inches on the top one inch on the
Speaker 4: sides for all pages. And what this allows us, you know,
Speaker 4: when counties record documents in multiple counties, we run out
Speaker 4: of room to put our stamps in our book and page.
Speaker 4: So this has been a ongoing.
Speaker 1: It's like, can you please make your way to you
Speaker 1: get this day garage so we can do our jobs better.
Speaker 4: Yes, So that was Cenebille at fifty seven. It's called
Speaker 4: increased margins for County Clerk documents. So this is a
Speaker 4: very important one that finally got passed.
Speaker 1: Well. Good, then that way you don't have your stamp
Speaker 1: covering up everything needs to be that it's correct.
Speaker 4: Yes, and also when it's when we don't have room.
Speaker 4: It allows the county clerks to charge a non conforming fee,
Speaker 4: which is very expensive for oil and gas companies. Yeah,
Speaker 4: it's twenty five dollars for the first page, ten for
Speaker 4: each additional so it can.
Speaker 3: Get costly, but it allows us.
Speaker 4: You know, We'reshton County is pretty good about not trying
Speaker 4: to charge that at all. But I know the counties
Speaker 4: in western Oklahoma that have a lot of oil and gas.
Speaker 2: They just have to do it.
Speaker 3: That is correct.
Speaker 2: Yes, Wow, what's the other one is coming down the pike.
Speaker 4: The other one is sin Bill five five six. It
Speaker 4: is a notary Enforcement Act that Tulca County Clerk was
Speaker 4: involved in getting this bill written and passed a lot
Speaker 4: of fraudulent notaries out there, you know, where people want
Speaker 4: to you know, go and have you know, like a deed.
Speaker 4: Somebody can sign off the deed, get a fraudulent notary
Speaker 4: to say, hey, you know, they will notarize the document.
Speaker 4: Somebody will come in and file a document, you know,
Speaker 4: and change ownership. So this kind of gives like as
Speaker 4: a misdemeanor for this. So it kind of gives some
Speaker 4: teeth on the notaries that hey, we mean.
Speaker 2: Business, do not be a naughty notary.
Speaker 3: Correct.
Speaker 4: So some states have a little bit more enforcement where
Speaker 4: it's a felony ten thousand dollars you know.
Speaker 3: Fine, so kind of working on that. But this is
Speaker 3: a very good start.
Speaker 2: It is a good start.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you gotta start somewhere here and that way these
Speaker 1: people know that you're on the radar.
Speaker 3: That is correct.
Speaker 4: We do check that and we can go online and
Speaker 4: check a notary if need be. Rushing County really doesn't
Speaker 4: have this issue. I know Tulsa County has had some
Speaker 4: issues and some other counties.
Speaker 3: So that's why.
Speaker 2: This was because we play fair here.
Speaker 3: That's correct.
Speaker 2: Yes, tell us.
Speaker 1: About the clerk's office for the folks who you know.
Speaker 1: They hear, okay, well I got to go to the
Speaker 1: county Clerk's office. Well, the clerk's office does a lot
Speaker 1: of things. I was amazed. Get a lot under your.
Speaker 3: Umbrellaut Yes, we do.
Speaker 4: Besides filing deeds mortgages on the land side, we also
Speaker 4: do purchasing. We do the bidding for Washington County. We
Speaker 4: do the payroll for about one hundred and thirty five employees.
Speaker 4: We get together the budget. I work with Melissa the
Speaker 4: treasure really close on getting our budget done, and then
Speaker 4: we work with the assessor on you know, the tax levies,
Speaker 4: and we do we sign up new.
Speaker 3: Employees, We pay all bills.
Speaker 4: For Washington County. So we're quite busy. And that's just
Speaker 4: a little bit of it.
Speaker 2: Do you guys go through a lot of ink, Yes,
Speaker 2: we do, Yes.
Speaker 4: And the county clerk also serves as secretary to a
Speaker 4: lot of boards, tax rew excise, budget board commissioners, and
Speaker 4: so it's busy, but it's very interesting.
Speaker 3: I've always liked it.
Speaker 1: Wow, that is amazing, you know, and of course you've
Speaker 1: made it over the year. It's a lot easier to
Speaker 1: do transactions too, as a lot of county offices have
Speaker 1: for the longest time you had to write a check
Speaker 1: or bring cash. But now the plastic works and that's
Speaker 1: probably expedited of things will a bit.
Speaker 4: Yes, it has. That's gone over really well the last
Speaker 4: few years. I think we started taking credit cards back
Speaker 4: in twenty nineteen, yeah, November, and then we've just increased
Speaker 4: with you know how like Apple pay and some of
Speaker 4: the other stuff that I'm not too familiar with.
Speaker 3: Don't use. But it allows you know, your customers.
Speaker 4: Yes, and somebody can call in and request a copy
Speaker 4: and they can give us their credit card, you know,
Speaker 4: online and we can charge them, you know for their
Speaker 4: copy because it is a dollar per page, and.
Speaker 3: We can you know, forward them their document.
Speaker 2: Wonderful.
Speaker 1: You know this when you talk about making it easier,
Speaker 1: you know that people they feel kind of threatened a
Speaker 1: little bit when they have to do anything they have
Speaker 1: to do with walking into a courthouse or walking into
Speaker 1: any kind of a government building. It's actually once you
Speaker 1: get past security, it's pretty welcoming.
Speaker 3: Yes, Yes, we try to make it welcome, so.
Speaker 1: That's there for everybody's benefit there, Yes, and that's usually
Speaker 1: a pretty quick process.
Speaker 2: But how long you been doing this.
Speaker 4: And I've been in the County Clerk's office for thirty
Speaker 4: four years.
Speaker 2: Oh, you're not old enough to be anywhere.
Speaker 3: Thirty four years.
Speaker 4: And then I've been county clerk since June of twenty nineteen.
Speaker 3: So I do get sworn back in January first.
Speaker 4: Huh next year, so I'm looking forward to another four years.
Speaker 2: Well, that's great, that is great. And if folks need.
Speaker 1: To find out what's going on, we have a wonderful
Speaker 1: website that's pretty easy to get around in. So in
Speaker 1: case they have questions that may come to your office,
Speaker 1: how do we find that?
Speaker 4: Go to courthouse dot org and you can look up
Speaker 4: any office. You can look up county clerk, and it
Speaker 4: will tell us, you know, our filing fees for documents,
Speaker 4: what is required for purchasing forbids, how to contact us now?
Speaker 2: Now the bid thing.
Speaker 1: If you're somebody who does business and you've never gone
Speaker 1: through the process before, go to the website before you
Speaker 1: start asking questions, and toll answer most of them for you.
Speaker 3: Won't it Yes, it will, yes.
Speaker 2: And you can do a little bit of research on
Speaker 2: there too.
Speaker 1: But you know, like I said, it's it's one of
Speaker 1: those things folks that you're going to have to have
Speaker 1: contact with once in a while, and it's nice to
Speaker 1: know the people who you're going to do business with,
Speaker 1: and then that you're one of the nicest.
Speaker 2: Folks I ever met.
Speaker 3: So thank you.
Speaker 2: I'm just telling folks right now. It's cool. It's all
Speaker 2: right now. You're very busy. I mean people you got
Speaker 2: in your office.
Speaker 4: I love six six yes, and they work really great
Speaker 4: and we all get along. It's enjoyable to come to
Speaker 4: work every day good and it's cross trained also, the
Speaker 4: girls are cross trained so they can work. But keeping
Speaker 4: our landsides so for shorthanded somebody can fill in at
Speaker 4: all times, you know something, that's.
Speaker 1: The wisest way to go. And when you've got just
Speaker 1: a short staff, everybody knows a little bit of everything
Speaker 1: and get her done just as well as anybody.
Speaker 3: That is correct.
Speaker 4: And then sometimes if somebody has to work from home
Speaker 4: because of a sick child or something. With our software
Speaker 4: allows us to index or take in some documents on
Speaker 4: the land side, so that's been very helpful through our
Speaker 4: software vendors.
Speaker 1: Well, yes, yes, well so do you get to talk
Speaker 1: with the commissioners much except for when you know you've
Speaker 1: got to do the bills and everything.
Speaker 3: Yeah, talk to them almost every day. They're great to
Speaker 3: work with, they really are. They are very receptive. I mean,
Speaker 3: they just work well. All of all. The elected officials
Speaker 3: were great.
Speaker 2: Well, that is good. It is good. And once again,
Speaker 2: what's the name of.
Speaker 3: The website County Courthouse dot org. How, Yes, very easy.
Speaker 4: Yes, And they can get a hold of my office
Speaker 4: at clerk at County Courthouse dot org.
Speaker 3: It's very easy.
Speaker 4: Everybody in the office gets that email besides the individual emails.
Speaker 1: But that's really cool. Han thattt thank you. Is there
Speaker 1: anything else we need to bring up here?
Speaker 4: Yeah, THEO Yeah, there's a couple of other deals and center.
Speaker 4: Bill two twelve, which was passed last year, took effect
Speaker 4: November first of last year.
Speaker 3: It's the ownership affidavit.
Speaker 4: It is required by each deed that the new buyer
Speaker 4: has to sign off that they are legal to own property.
Speaker 3: And this is the state of Oklahoma.
Speaker 4: So you can get the forms on the Attorney General's
Speaker 4: website and call our.
Speaker 3: Office if you have any questions.
Speaker 4: But it must be attached to any deed change of
Speaker 4: ownership and it has to be notarized. My office doesn't
Speaker 4: do any notaries since we do record the documents in
Speaker 4: our office, so we asked that they have it all notarized.
Speaker 1: And there are plenty of notaries out there that a
Speaker 1: big old piece of papers.
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, yes, And then a kind of an update
Speaker 4: on the monitoring system. I think touch base last year
Speaker 4: with and last year I did have a green card
Speaker 4: that went out with the tax statements explaining the monitoring system.
Speaker 4: It is through kelpro through Okaycounty Records dot com. Kel
Speaker 4: Proer software vendor does manage that, but it's just where
Speaker 4: you can sign up. You can be notified of any
Speaker 4: transaction that takes place on your property or under your name.
Speaker 3: And if anybody you.
Speaker 4: Know needs help, more than welcome to call my office
Speaker 4: or email us and say how do I sign up?
Speaker 4: We do have some instructions that we can email on
Speaker 4: how to do that. We we had a really great
Speaker 4: response last year when the cards went out and.
Speaker 2: So very resourceful.
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, this year I won't be sending out any
Speaker 4: cards because it went out so you know, for to
Speaker 4: so many people.
Speaker 3: But it is still available.
Speaker 1: Okay, So once again, just get a hold of a
Speaker 1: hold of an et there through the website and you
Speaker 1: can get that taken care of We're just making a
Speaker 1: phone call and get that taken care of it as well.
Speaker 3: That's correct.
Speaker 2: Hey, thanks for being with us.
Speaker 3: Thank you.