A senior staff member of Nassau County Clerk O'Connell called at 9 AM Saturday morning to respond to the previous blog posted here on Friday.
As this was a weekend phone call - I cannot get the following report fact-checked by the Clerk's office until next week.
This report is from my notes of this morning's phone call. Any errors or misstatements will be corrected as soon as we are advised of them.
I explained my previous reports came from Examiners on site and were corroborated by Agents and an Direct operations Underwriter.
Well - it looks like the tech team from Xerox is not happy with us and they feel disparaged by the things said about the situation in Nassau county. A blind man can see we are not popular with the Nassau County Clerk.
Here is what I learned on this morning's phone call:
1 - The new system (Xerox) is fully functional and the index can be accessed without charge from a bank of 20 computers on-site. This went online at 11 AM Thursday
2 - The data in the Xerox system (1992-2015) is correct and reliable. He says there is no data gap July 1- Sept 30, 2015. Any problem with gaps is due to training issues.
3 - The Xerox system can print specific pages. However he does admit that users must pay $2/page to view or download and unless one views an entire document, you can't know what page you want to print.
4 - A training packet was distributed last Thursday. A copy will be sent to me next week.
5 - 10 computers are available for public use to access the old system (Browntech). Three are connected to printers "behind the counter". The statutory fee they charge is 65-cents/page.
6 - The Browntech system required Examiners to purchase payment cards for printing. These cards will be obsolete in a matter of days or weeks.
7 - The bottleneck is being caused by Examiners who are trying to "deplete the value" on their old Browntech cards and the 'Examiners do not trust the data in the new system.
I was told Clerk O'Connell does not want to make any statement until everything is up and running smoothly. I explained that it is when things are NOT running smoothly that people need to have information and an official statement.
We disagreed on the better approach to communications and crisis management. (They deny there is a crisis.)
I explained that the LTA has tried for years to establish formal communications with the Clerk's office and we have always been rebuffed.
I reiterated our offer to assist the Nassau County Clerk in disseminating information to the industry and facilitating the use of the Clerk's services.
Great efforts have been taken to acknowledge that these reports are based on 2nd hand information and we have made frequent requests to the Clerk's Office for comment.
I appreciate the diligence of the gentleman who took personal time away from his family to call me. Maybe there is hope we can build some bridges.
Posted Sunday, October 4, 2015
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Might take a couple of days but we will get it fixed. Thanks for your patience.