SWEETWATER COUNTY– At Tuesday’s Sweetwater County Commission meeting, some county residents brought forth their concerns over the new iDoc Market system for viewing public records online.
Local realtors have previously spoken to SweetwaterNOW about their issues with the iDoc Market, which can be read here.
Mikaela Inman, local realtor and business owner, and Jeremy Inman, local business owner, expressed their concern to the commissioners over the data-base access fees to use the new iDoc Market upgrade, as well as how the program was implemented with no notice to the public.
Questioning the Fees for Use
Mikaela said iDoc is the same system that has been in place for over 10 years, but the new upgrade has brought along some fees that don’t make sense to her.
The fees to use iDoc Market include a $10 daily fee, $50 weekly, $150 monthly or $1,500 yearly for private or business use.
She added that she understands it is a convenience fee, however, she pointed out that the iDoc Market is also a convenience for the Sweetwater County Clerk’s Office, as they do not have to help residents find records if people are accessing them online.
Mikaela said that Sweetwater County is the eighth largest county in the United States, and that should be taken into consideration when deciding on these fees.
She pointed out that a resident of Bairoil would either have to drive all the way to Green River to access the public records, adding up cost of gas and travel, or pay an “excessive” online fee to access them through the iDoc Market.
She also noted to the commission that the digitizing of the records was done to preserve the records in case of flood or fire at the County Courthouse, not for convenience.
Legal Council Sought
Commissioner Randy Wendling asked Mikaela if she has started at GoFundMe account, and if so, what the purpose of it is.
Mikaela confirmed that she and other local realtors have started a GoFundMe, and it is to raise funds to hire an attorney.
“We’ve been challenging this,” Mikaela said. “It’s not serving the public.”
Since legal council has been sought, Wendling informed Mikaela that any further conversation must go through their respective attorneys. He said the commission could listen to her concerns, but could not comment.
Despite not being able to comment directly to the concerns, the commissioners did encourage Cindy Lane, Sweetwater County Clerk, and the residents to further their discussions to try to find common ground.
Vacancy of Proper Procedure
Jeremy Inman, co-owner of Haiku, LLC, a company that does 3D scans of properties, said his primary concern was the legality of how the program was implemented.
He noted there was no 40-day notice before the program went live, which he considers to be a “vacancy of proper procedure.”
Lane told SweetwaterNOW previously that the iDoc Market was launched early, without the county’s knowledge, but that she was planning on giving notice to the residents through press releases.
Lane said since it is not a fee change, but rather is an implementation of a convenience fee, she was not legally required to notify the public.
Refusing to Pay Fees
Tim Kaumo, JFC Engineers and Surveyors president, told SweetwaterNOW that the data-base access fee charge will impact his business and they are not going to pay to access the documents.
“We think that’s ridiculous,” Kaumo said. “It’s public information.”
Kaumo said it’s a huge issue for professional surveyors and engineers.“We are having problems with it.” Kaumo said.
However, Kaumo refuses to pay $1,500 a year to access this information. He said had the amount proposed been more reasonable they may have decided to pay it.
“We are not going to pay it,” he said. “If we need a document, we’ll just drive over and use the free service.”
