COLUMBIANA COURTHOUSE Recorder and office staff get some breathing room

New equipment is being installed that will make a key function of county government more efficient.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Most people like to think they're moving up in the world. Columbiana County Recorder Jeff Hochadel is moving down, and he's tickled about it.
Hochadel's office is being relocated from the courthouse's first floor to a basement space that was once a janitor's supply closet.
That may sound bad, but only if you haven't seen the county recorder's first-floor office.
Although a key member of county government, the recorder for years has been allocated a corner in a cramped office shared by about half a dozen recorder's office employees.
Desks there are jammed so close together you could cross the room by walking across their tops like stepping stones.
The recorder's staff will remain in the first-floor office, where the corner occupied by Hochadel is being invaded by the office's growing records collection.
The department records hundreds of vital papers, such as deeds, mortgages, liens, bills of sale and military discharge documents.
Roomier digs
Compared with his first-floor corner, Hochadel's new domain in the 13-foot-by-13-foot janitor's closet is roomy.
The supplies and other clutter that once filled the space has been moved out. The walls in the windowless room have been painted white, as has the 8-inch diameter utility pipe that snakes just overhead.
"Thank goodness I'm short," quipped the 5-foot-7-inch Hochadel. Those who run for recorder in the future will have to meet a height requirement. "You have to be under 6 feet," he joked.
Relocating the recorder's office is part of a project being undertaken to update the department.
Carpeting was being laid in the first-floor office Friday. Walls there have been painted. New office furniture will be delivered soon.
New computers
A key element of the renovation project is new computer equipment.
The new hardware and software will allow the recorder's staff to scan documents into a computer system and immediately return the important paper to the person who brought it in for recording.
Right now, documents have to stay with the office while they are copied and manually entered in the department's recording system, requiring a six-month delay in getting documents back to their owners.
The new system is expected to be fully operational by the end of June, Hochadel said.
Cost of the new hardware and software is about $110,000. Cost of the office improvements totals about $11,500.
Everything is being paid for from the recorder's office equipment fund, which is fueled by a $4 per document recording fee, Hochadel explained.