In many different County Courthouses I have never been asked to fill out a Right-To-Know request.
At the Municipal level it is much more likely that I will be filling one out.
My take is that at the County level the staff fully understands the meaning of public records, while the less experienced local disseminators of information are cautious. Not that they are inexperienced but that their experience is less along the line of public information.
How is your experience with information requests?
Most often a request requires research on their part and the request has to be detailed and in writing, so there is little difference if it is on an official RTK form or not.
Paul in PA
Never heard of such foolishness. Nearly all publicly recorded documents are open to public inspection. The only thing I can think of that we aren't supposed to get our hands on are the actual dollar value reported on the sale/transfer of a property. I can get to it because I am a licensed real estate salesperson and my broker has a standing request in place with the appraiser's office to legally access that data. That has no relevance to a boundary survey, however. Court files, of course, are difficult to access without a very specific reason.
There are a few counties that require written record requests for copies and it's a pita. A couple of counties require a signed affidavit swearing we are NOT abstracting...which in Oklahoma requires a license. (wtf?)
paden cash, post: 392933, member: 20 wrote: There are a few counties that require written record requests for copies and it's a pita. A couple of counties require a signed affidavit swearing we are NOT abstracting...which in Oklahoma requires a license. (wtf?)
Crazy man crazy. If you are tracing deeds back, that would be abstracting. Maybe you have to call it something else? Not "abstracting", "researching".
Last week I was searching the deed records and run across the social security number for a Wrestler that was real popular about 30 years ago.
Yesterday I called to verify the surface adjustment factor TxDot was using in a county near Dallas and a very polite and helpful Lady asked why I needed that information. I paused and she said that they are required by Homeland Security to ask that question.
I didn't know that terrorist were into LDP's :scream:
James
Years ago I was the resident surveyor for a telecommunications firm that contracted from (among others) the DoD. When preparing comm cable placing plans it's nice to have the old records. There were a number of situations I had trouble getting this info, particularly from the USAF. After about six months I was provided a security clearance. Since a lot of the military's communication routes and procedures were classified, my clearance was in the "Secret" category (as opposed to Top Secret). I had to prepare written requests through our Contracting Officer for any copies. It's pretty funny to get a copy of P&P sheets that half of the stuff is "blacked out".
Sometimes even copies were a no-no and I could only look at certain records. In those instances I use to make quick sketches of what we needed to know on legal pads. One zealous escort (guard) even took exception to that and I was required to be "debriefed" (grilled). It was finally settled, but I spent a couple of hours in a room while who-knows-who poured over everything I had with me...including my wallet.
Paul in PA, post: 392920, member: 236 wrote: How is your experience with information requests?
Easy, everything we need is avaliable online. I'm surprised that PA isn't the same?
Holy Cow, post: 392927, member: 50 wrote: Never heard of such foolishness. Nearly all publicly recorded documents are open to public inspection. The only thing I can think of that we aren't supposed to get our hands on are the actual dollar value reported on the sale/transfer of a property. I can get to it because I am a licensed real estate salesperson and my broker has a standing request in place with the appraiser's office to legally access that data. That has no relevance to a boundary survey, however. Court files, of course, are difficult to access without a very specific reason.
Here the Real Estate Transfer Tax is $1 per thousand so we can see the sale price right on the deed. I can't imagine a reason for NOT allowing public access to real estate records.
Andy
I do work in a small town where the highway layouts are locked in a safe and inaccessible to the public. So some surveyors doing work there will use the pavement and fences to make a "determination", but, to me that lacks diligence.
I know the town has the records and I know which town official is responsible for providing the information. I even know in which safe the layouts are stored.
In other towns I have offered to help show the clueless town officials where the records are located. This small town just refuses to cooperate using the excuse that the safe cannot be opened or that there is mold in the safe.
The Freedom of Information Act does not allow for their behavior. All states have there own public information laws similar to the Freedom of Information Act.
Paul in PA, post: 392920, member: 236 wrote: In many different County Courthouses I have never been asked to fill out a Right-To-Know request.
At the Municipal level it is much more likely that I will be filling one out.
My take is that at the County level the staff fully understands the meaning of public records, while the less experienced local disseminators of information are cautious. Not that they are inexperienced but that their experience is less along the line of public information.
How is your experience with information requests?
Most often a request requires research on their part and the request has to be detailed and in writing, so there is little difference if it is on an official RTK form or not.
Paul in PA
For some reason the local USACE office is now requiring R-T-K requests. I am under contract to them, and if I want something that is not included in the task order, I need to formally request it. For instance, I wanted to get all of the harbor line maps (already scanned), and I had to request them. More recently I asked for indexes to all of the field books, and the initial response from the R-T-K person was I had to pay $140 (already all scanned, just a matter of sending some pdf files). My POC there got it done for no charge, as it was a benefit to work we do to have that, but still it is interesting to note their changed attitude about stuff that should be free, it is already digital.
Glad that NGS doesn't see things that way!
I am surprised that the City of Pittsburgh does not charge anything at all to get monument cards for their control points. They have around 18,000 monuments, and the data is all stored on index cards (nothing digital). But, every time I go there to get some info, they do it for free, and it usually takes some time to find the right card and photo copy it. I would understand if they wanted to charge some nominal amount for that effort, but they don't.
[USER=1123]@Andy Bruner[/USER]
Many years ago there was a tax stamp practice here. The deed would have a certain value of tax stamps affixed to it. You still had to know what the effective rate per thousand was in the year the deed was recorded to get an approximation of the actual sale price. Just like at the Post Office, there were different colors and styles of stamps for each specific unit, I.e,, dollar, fifty cents, dime, nickel, penny. It's been so long since I paid any attention to this I can't remember what amount of sale value a one dollar stamp represented in any year.
John Hamilton, post: 392970, member: 640 wrote:
the City of Pittsburgh does not charge anything at all to get monument cards for their control points.............. every time I go there to get some info, they do it for free, and it usually takes some time to find the right card and photo copy it. I would understand if they wanted to charge some nominal amount for that effort, but they don't.
That is because it is their job to serve the public and it is all already paid for via. tax dollars.
That should be EVERY government entities philosophy.
In the local recorder of deeds office they have signs saying "no photographing of deed books", and then they charge $0.50/page.
I suppose if a small gov. office doesn't have access to a large tax base, there may be the need to supplement the general fund.
The public has a right to know. I'm part of the public. If I say I need to know, that's all that should be necessary. We're not talking about the secret hideout in Maryland for the President to go to as the nuclear bombs are falling.
