New program will allow people to use computers instead of books to search

By DOUG WATERS, The Daily News, dwaters@bgdailynews.com

RUSSELLVILLE – Logan County citizens will soon be able to view deeds and other public records on computers instead of sifting through thick books at the clerk’s office.

Logan County Fiscal Court on Tuesday approved a nearly $80,000 software upgrade for the clerk’s office.

County Clerk Scottie Harper told the court he invited four software companies to make system presentations to clerk’s office employees. CARDS, for County Automated Records Database, the largest provider of digital imaging systems in the state, was chosen to create a database system for Logan.

The project should modernize the records-keeping abilities of the Logan County Clerk’s Office to the level of most other state clerk’s offices, Harper said.

The company requires $50,000 up front to start the project, which should take about a month to implement. After paying the remaining balance, Harper said Logan will own the software with available technical support.

Harper estimates it will cost the county roughly $700 a month to operate the program. Conversely, Muhlenberg and other counties lease similar database systems for more per month, he said.

In the region, only Logan and Todd don’t have digital imaging systems, which allow people to view scanned images and give county clerks more database tools.

At Tuesday’s court, Trace Kirkwood of the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives fielded magistrates’ database questions.

He said it’s best for counties to select established companies than to create homegrown database systems, in response to Magistrate Jo Orange’s inquiry about state recommendations.

Kirkwood, a regional administrator for department, said the state &#8220leans on” clerks’ offices to backup records, and only six to seven of 29 counties that he oversees don’t have digital imaging systems.

&#8220This is the wave of the future. Everyone is moving in this direction,” he said.