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Monday, September 18, 2000
Wise County offers 'e-filing' and access to court records online
Clerk's office blazes electronic trail

The goal is to make government more responsive to citizens, said Circuit Court Clerk Jack Kennedy.

By LAURENCE HAMMACK
http://theroanoketimes.com/The Roanoke Times

You can find the Wise County courthouse one of two ways: By taking winding mountain roads to the small town of Wise, or by going to a Web site that proclaims in bold letters that the clerk's office is "OPEN 24/7/365."

The second way of accessing court records - via cyberspace 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year - became a little easier recently with the state's first electronic filing of a land record.

With the click of a mouse last Monday, the deed in a land transaction between the Big Stone Gap Redevelopment and Housing Authority and the new owners of a three-bedroom ranch house was recorded electronically from a site a half-hour's drive from the courthouse.

The "e-filing" was the latest first for Circuit Court Clerk Jack Kennedy, who is stretching the definition of public records by making his office one of the most Internet-accessible ones around.

Earlier this year, Kennedy became the first clerk in Virginia to broadcast court proceedings live through his "Court cam" to Web surfers who have the software to capture video.

Also posted at www.courtbar.org are Wise County land records, recent court orders, judgment liens, marriage and probate indices, real estate tax assessment data, delinquent real estate tax listings and other records that were previously retrievable only by poking through dusty storage rooms.

"I'm hoping that Wise County can stand out, waving our little flag from out here in Southwest Virginia, that we embrace technology," Kennedy said.

The latest development will start off slowly. State law allows electronic land transfers only when government agencies are involved, so Kennedy launched the program last Monday with the housing authority.

Amid much fanfare at the Big Stone Gap town hall, authority director Chuck Miller put his signature on an electronic pad that transferred his name to an online deed.

Then Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, sent the e-document through cyberspace to the clerk's office, where it was recorded in much the same way as if someone had carried it in to the front counter.

"We don't have to go to the courthouse, stand in line and wait," Miller said. "It's a time-saving tool."

Also on hand at Monday's e-filing were representatives from Mixnet Corp., a Fairfax data conversion and Web development firm that is a partner in the project, and Charles and Sheri Minor, who were a bit taken aback by all the commotion surrounding their home purchase.

Although the housing authority records only a few deeds a month, Kennedy is hopeful that the General Assembly will pass legislation at its upcoming session to make the e-filing service available to private individuals.

The underlying goal is to make government more responsive to citizens, Kennedy said. An example: When couples are married at the courthouse, they can pay an additional fee to have the ceremony Web-cast live to faraway relatives.

As technology advances, Kennedy hopes other clerks across the state will follow his example.

"The attitude too frequently is: 'That is the way we have always done it.' E-Gov requires a review and a willingness to become more efficient and productive," Kennedy said last week in - of course - an e-mail.