Public Trustee eBusiness Committee Meeting
 December 15, 2005, Noon
Gilpin County Treasurer’s Office
203 Eureka Street
Central City, Colorado

A welcome was given by the Chairman and host, Alynn Huffman.

Present:

Guests:

Not present:

The meeting that was scheduled for November 18, 2005 was cancelled.  Jack Arrowsmith made the motion that we approve the minutes of the October 20, 2005 meeting and Alynn seconded this motion.  The minutes were approved unanimously.  These minutes will be e-mailed to Bob Sagel to put on the Treasurer/Public Trustee Association’s website.

Status of the new Title Company Request for Release of Deed of Trust and Release forms:
Alynn Huffman gave the status update on the new Title Company Request for Release of Deed of Trust and Release forms.  The Colorado Public Trustee’s Association has approved these Release forms, but the forms are not done as of this time.  Alynn said now that she has the capability on her computer, she will proceed with completing these forms.  Sandy Hume offered help from the Boulder Public Trustee’s Office, if necessary.

The question was raised concerning eRecording releases, do we make it mandatory that the submitters use our form, and, can we make it statutory?  The Release forms  are available on the Public Trustee website, and they can be filled out there.

Smart Documents for Release Forms and an Update About Kuvera and Ingio:
Jack Arrowsmith told us about the eBusiness Summit to be held on Friday, February 24, 2006.  This will be a one-day affair.  Anyone can go to the Denver Public Trustee website at www.denvergov.org/eBusiness/ to register and get additional information.    If you register early the fee is $10.00, and may be $15.00 if registering late.  It will be held at the Botanic Gardens in Denver.  You can also contact Jill Voegtle at 720-865-8403 or  jill.voegtle@ci.denver.co.us

On Thursday, February 23, 2006 a Kuvera user group meeting will be held.  There will be discussion on the use of the Public Trustee forms at this meeting and the cost difference to use our forms versus any other forms.

There will be a Public Trustee Training class offered in Douglas County that will continue consistently.  These classes will be offered to other Public Trustees with a small cost involved.  This will be training on the new Colorado statutes.  January 1, 2007, is the [anticipated] go live date for the new statutes.  The last quarter of 2006 will be when we start the training.  Douglas County’s Human Resources Department will get the phone calls and invitations out, etc.

Smart docs: 
Wayne Vaden, Denver County Public Trustee/Clerk & Recorder was approved for funds from the state for a project centered around smart documents.  This will help the rest of us progress with the smart documents.  True electronic signatures, encrypting the documents, etc. is the direction we are heading.  Wayne or Jill may be able to give us more information about this at a future meeting.

We need national notary understanding.  PRIA would be the one to get this done. 

There have been questions from the Secretary Of State about the volume of eReleases, and, what we would recommend as to how to increase this volume.  Title Companies say there cannot be an increase because of the cost, but the fee is not the issue.  The time is ripe and the Secretary Of State is ready to take a stand on this about lowering or raising fees, etc.  Secretary Of State may do legislation that will etch in stone the $1.00 surcharge for the Clerk &Recorder’s; and, if so, make a percentage available to help the counties.  Variable fees are a possibility, but this is not popular with the Title Companies.  The Public Trustee’s could recommend ideas to the Secretary Of State.

ACS has not been doing the job of getting submitters for eReleases.  There are only 15 mortgage companies that are capable of doing eReleases.  The Title companies are a major problem for moving forward the submission of eReleases.  We could recommend making them pay more for paper and less for electronic releases if submitted by a title company representative.   The Secretary Of State will probably carry this bill for the Public Trustee’s.  The end user will pay.  We need to make it discretionary so the small county Public Trustee’s can decide what to collect.  We want to make it easy for all counties to use.  We need to put something together to give to the Secretary Of State that shows we are united as an Association. 

The suggestion was made that we should make a motion that there be presented to the legislature a bill with a variable fee for ACH paid eReleases, and, that for the small jurisdictions, the release fee be increased.  Also, we should consider raising the fee for paper releases in all counties.  Those jurisdictions that have the ability to produce eReleases could have the same or a lower fee for eReleases.  The suggestion was also made that we should make the motion and vote as a committee, then have an  electronic vote of other committee members not present.

The consensus was that Jack Arrowsmith will come up with a statement regarding the release fee in general.  The paper release fee will increase and the eRelease fee will stay at $15.00 or lower.  This statement will be voted on electronically by all eBusiness committee members, it will then be submitted to the Executive Committee, and finally presented to the Association.  He should have this completed tentatively by January 10, 2006.  

The State Portal will have the ability to accept credit cards, and any county office could have the ability to use this.  There was a question “What will the fee be?”  A convenience fee will be added that would be charged to the customer.  Each county would have a separate agreement with the State Portal.  ACH payment ability will be available, also with a convenience fee.

Update on the Colorado Bar Association Foreclosure Committee Meeting Friday, a report on stakeholders meeting:
Jack gave an update.  No real contentious matters.  Some ideas were raised by an investor that was present as to the redemption process and overbid money.  The Mortgage Companies and Home Owners Associations are supportive.  The next meeting will be, Monday, December 19, 2005 at 1:30 p.m. at the Capital Building, Basement Room # 109, Denver, Colorado.

MERS Release issues – Caren Castle Response.  How is this coming along?
We need some consistency in the Public Trustee Association.  We need a basic guideline for all of us to follow.   Sandy Hume will contact Caren Castle for a statement about MERS to put into our manual.

Response to submitting wire transfers for Foreclosures:
Alynn Huffman reported on this survey.  There needs to be a valid transaction per statutes that we all need to accept.  Only a few Public Trustees responded to Alynn’s e-mail.  There needs to be a statement that wire transfers can be accepted, and that the rules for conducting this can be set by each county in the manual.  This issue will be brought to the next meeting for discussion and a decision.

There was no new business.

Alynn will e-mail Roxy Huber for a date and time for our next meeting and will contact all of us.  Possible dates, January 20 or 27, 2006.

Meeting Adjourned!

Respecfully submitted,

Marilyn Bullard, Secretary