Our Host, Sandy Hume, Boulder County Public Trustee, welcomed everyone to Boulder. He introduced Jeff Willie from Kuvera, eRecording Solutions. Jeff gave us all an overview of Kuvera’s business history and purpose. Kuvera is a new business started in April 2003. They see their system as an interface between the submitter and the government agencies to make e-recording happen. They are currently e-recording in the Boulder County Clerk and Recorder’s Office with the Eagle Recording System, and in the Douglas County Clerk and Recorder’s Office with the Hart Recording System. They have also been working with the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office. Three years ago that office had a vision about how technology could be used to keep up with the increasing workload they had. They saw electronic recording as a solution, and it is working as a solution today.

Kuvera wants to work in a partnership with other vendors, and, announced that they had formed a partnership with ACS. Kuvera’s role is to link the submitters to the receivers. Mr. Willie stated, "volume equals success and this needs to be a win-win situation for everyone."

We also heard from Eugene Sisneros with ERC, a firm that represents a group of title companies. They have a partnership with Kuvera as well. Mr. Sisneros said, "A quick turn around of documents is the motive for the title companies, and we can see it going from 45 days to just minutes."

There was a representative from ACS present, John Lough. Mr. Lough discussed their position in the field of e-business. Brock Taylor represented Eagle Computers and he indicated, "Partnerships will make e-recording a success. The volume can be driven with the right partnerships. The Public Trustees’ will be partners as well."

Kuvera then gave us a demonstration of their Release of Deed of Trust application. This is a web-based application. Kuvera has a central database (located in the parking lot of the Pepsi Center) that they can access all the information they need from 5 different internet providers from different directions. With this database there are no power or internet interruptions.

Public Trustee’s can receive the release electronically, process it, and deliver it electronically to the Clerk and Recorder. It is returned to the Public Trustee where history is added and it is immediately available to the submitter. Theoretically, there would be no paper. This transaction would take place with "Trusted Parties" only. Very secure and with only known submitters.

Jack Arrowsmith explained that we would have to obtain an "MOU" (Memorandum of understanding) from every submitter of releases.

There was a lot of discussion about the process and it’s benefits. A lot of questions were asked and answered effectively. The demonstration was very informative and beneficial to all present. There is a meeting on February 6 with the Secretary of State about setting standards. Hopefully, there will be a move to set standards that will work for everyone, maybe even at the national level. There may have to be some statute changes necessary as far as the notary is concerned. The number of counties accepting documents at the Clerk and Recorder’s and Public Trustee’s offices drives the volume and therefore drives the success.

After the presentation, Jack Arrowsmith opened the E-Business Committee meeting, the Chairman. He thanked out hosts, Sandy Hume and Jim Wills from the Boulder Public Trustee’s Office. Marilyn Bullard, Secretary announced the roll call. Those present were as follows:

Jack Arrowsmith, Douglas County Public Trustee
Marilyn Bullard, Douglas County Chief Public Trustee
Angela Dazlich, Larimer County Public Trustee
Alynn Huffman, Gilpin County Treasurer/Public Trustee
Sandy Hume, Boulder County Public Trustee
Jim Wills, Boulder County Deputy Public Trustee
Larry Castle, Attorney with the Castle, Meinhold & Stawiarski law firm

The members of the committee not in attendance were as follows:

Michelle Miller, Park County Treasurer/Public Trustee
Ginger Dyer, Security Title, Bailey, CO

Also present were, Angela’s guest, Carol Mass, Larimer County IT Department
Wayne E. Vaden, City and County of Denver Clerk & Recorder/Public Trustee

Wayne Vaden announced that he had been appointed to his office in July 2003, and was as he said a "recovering practicing attorney".

Jack asked for corrections or additions to the December 4, 2003 minutes, there were none so they will show as approved.

The first business discussed were the changes in the funding for e-recording. There was a dramatic decrease to the cost for the Public Trustee’s since the last meeting. There would be only a small implementation fee and then a per document charge. Angela expressed her concerns about initially getting the money to set aside for technology and wondered if it had been necessary. She wants to be more informed about these changes that seem to occur rather suddenly. Jack and Sandy both reassured her that they had also set aside money for this and that it probably will need to be used at some point in the future. Basically, there should be only a small transaction cost to the submitter and nothing more than the initial cost to the Public Trustees.

Everyone was a little concerned about the partnership between Kuvera and ACS. ACS is a Fortune 500 company with 45,000 + employees and it is unclear what this new partnership means for e-business. Douglas County is considering signing a 1-year contract with Kuvera but does not know how this new partnership will affect the contract. Larry Castle informed us that there are 5 companies that control 80% of all of the releases. They are: Wells Fargo, Chase Manhattan, Countrywide, Bank of America, and Washington Mutual.

Colorado Statute 38-37-111 was mentioned. We could all pool information, have one web site, have a statewide database with the ability of each county to access their own information and pull up copies of the deeds of trust to view. We could form a users group to construct a system, contract together to put software and hardware in as a part of the installation. Also, we could use the Kuvera data base location, for a price; but, Wayne Vaden from Denver County, offered the Central Data Base that Denver has free of charge to the Public Trustees.  Chairman Arrowsmith asked Mr. Vaden to put his concept in writing so it could be presented to the Public Trustee’s Association and Mr. Vaden agreed to do so.

There was discussion about how to strengthen the Public Trustee’s Association so that we can work together to get things accomplished. To let any organizations, legal or otherwise, that "as a group, this is how we want to do whatever it is we want to accomplish". Larry Castle reminded us that the Public Trustee’s have "Statutory Immunity" as far as lawsuits are concerned. He also said that the legal climate is changing.

Jim Wills from Boulder gave an update about the Secretary of State concerning electronic notarization. There has been no decision at this time. Carol Murray, Douglas County Clerk and Recorder is trying to arrange a meeting with the Secretary of State to put some urgency into this decision and hoping for a decision that revolves around releases only. The next meeting with the Secretary of State about electronic notarization is on Wednesday, February 28, 2004, in their conference room.

Larry Castle found nothing to preclude using electronic signatures the way we are proposing to do, scan documents, attach the electronic signature and electronic notary to a release.

To get fund access from the Secretary of State, the process would have to go through the Clerk and Recorder’s Office.

Jack suggested that the Public Trustees be a referral for the Clerk and Recorder’s organization on indexing standards.

As many as possible in this group are going to attend the PRIA Winter Conference in Washington DC in February. We should have a cohesive group to show the urgency to adopt PRIA standards to interface with all systems. Without these standards, we cannot interface. All of the vendors are very concerned about the standards. Carol Murray is setting up a Hospitality Center for Colorado during this PRIA conference.

The next E-Business Committee meeting will be held in Denver County and hosted by Wayne Vaden, Clerk and Recorder/Public Trustee, the date and time will be determined.

Submitted By:
Marilyn Bullard, Chief Deputy
Douglas County Public Trustee