HUNTINGTON -- Every day, people visit the Cabell County courthouse looking for things such as real estate records and vital statistics. Some say both the public's and employees' time would be saved if more public records were available online.
Many people come to the county clerk's office to search for birth certificates, land records and other documents, said Teresa Powell, chief deputy clerk.
"We don't have anything online and we're expecting nothing in the near future to get it online," she said, and added that having information on the Internet probably would be more convenient.
However, she said getting records online would likely require funds from the County Commission.
Commission President Scott Bias said he's heard other counties discuss online public records, but little has been discussed locally.
Bias said he has no problem having more records online, but said he questions how much revenue would be lost if people accessed information from home instead of at the courthouse.
Copy fees for records are $1.50 for the first two pages and $1 for each additional page per document, according to the county clerk's Web site. Those rates are set by state law.
"You have to look at that because if you give up the revenue then where are you going to get the revenue back from?" he said.
Many counties, especially those in rural areas, are slow to get public information online, said Charles Davis, executive director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition.
"It's ultimately a game about budgets, I think, as much as anything else," he said.
Davis said some counties and cities are more proactive, especially when hit by multiple requests for the same documents. Other places have a hard time finding the funds to hire a Webmaster. But eventually most places will have records online, he said.
"Eventually, it will come because it's inevitable. It's the way we're moving as a society. More and more people are accessing records that way," Davis said.
One local Web site continually updated is www.cabellassesor.com, said Cabell County Assessor Ottie Adkins. The site started about five years ago and includes appraisals, mapping of homes and aerial views. Adkins said it's frequently used by the public and real estate agents and saves everyone time.
"People can find out information without coming in and standing in line," he said. "All assessor's offices in the state do not have that, but we think it's a good service for the public."
Adkins said the assessor's office has been fortunate by having employees who could get the Web site running on their own. While other counties may hire someone to update the site, the assessor's site is kept up in-house.
County Manager Stephen Zoeller said he supports getting as much public information online as possible. He said the county is currently working with elected officials to provide imaging that will make it more possible to put documents online.
"There's a tremendous amount of human resources that go into searching for documents," he said. "Once we get digitized, it will be easier for everybody and more efficient for everybody."
Zoeller said the county is in the midst of creating a geographic information system site detailing infrastructure information -- from where fire hydrants and railroad crossings are to the height of underpasses. All this is important to the future of development, he said, as people coming into the area will want to know what resources are where.
Zoeller said Cabell County is ahead of the curve in some areas -- like its infrastructure site efforts -- and behind in others, like public documents accessible only in the county clerk's office.
"We're trying to get into things as they come up and as we get the resources," he said.
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