Official considers extended office hours

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Brown

Staff report

LISBON

Columbiana County Recorder Craig Brown said Tuesday he is open to allowing Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy Corp. to use the recorder’s office after hours.

Chesapeake for more than a year now has swamped the office with title searchers as part of the Utica and Marcellus shale drilling frenzy.

Those searchers have even set up shop around Brown’s desk in his office at 105 S. Market St.

Brown, in response, has said he is willing to keep his office open a couple of extra hours during the week and possibly a half-day Saturdays.

A deal would require overtime payments for staff, which Brown said would be reimbursed by Chesapeake — or any drilling company — through the county’s board of commissioners.

Brown said if Chesapeake and the county come to an agreement on extended hours, the extra hours would pertain to all residents.

“Access to public documents has to be equal across the board,” he said, adding that he does not want a setup similar to that in Belmont County, which is paid by Exxon to provide additional hours exclusively for researchers from Permian Oil of Fort Worth, Texas.

Brown said he has not been approached officially by Chesapeake.

The county and Chesapeake have done business before. The two agreed to a deal last year that allows Chesapeake to digitize county records.