Cook County commissioner wants to eliminate recorder’s office

Cook County Commissioner John Fritchey announced plans Monday to seek a countywide referendum that could eliminate the recorder of deeds office and hand off its functions to the Cook County clerk.

Fritchey believes the merger would allow for more efficient service to the public while saving about $1 million a year.

“The more I looked at it, the clearer it became that having a separately elected clerk and recorder is redundant and inefficient,” Fritchey said. “By merging the functions of the recorder’s office into the clerk’s office, we can improve constituent service, reduce political and bureaucratic inefficiency, and save taxpayer dollars.”

Askia Abdullah, press secretary for the recorder of deeds office, said Fritchey’s isn’t taking into account how much it would cost to combine the duties of both offices.

“I think it would take millions just to merge the office,” Abdullah said. “It would be an extensive proposition just to merge them.”

Abdullah emphasized that the recorder of deeds office, which operates under Eugene Moore, is “one of the only revenue generating offices” in Cook County.

“All these ideas have been floating around for some time,” he said, adding that he thinks a decision whether to merge the offices should be in the hands of the state legislature.

Cook County Clerk David Orr was more open to Fritchey’s plans.

“For 20 years, I have publicly supported consolidating government offices if such a merger would result in saving taxpayer dollars, greater efficiencies and improved customer services,” Orr said in a written statement. “While I have not spoken with Commissioner Fritchey about his proposal to combine the recorder of deeds’ functions into another county office, I am always willing to discuss options in the public’s best interest.”Fritchey, a Democrat from Chicago, intends to present his proposal to the Cook County Board later this month and have it voted upon in November. The measure will ask for a November 2012 referendum that, if approved by a majority of voters, would consolidate the offices by the end of 2015.Fritchey said the county clerk#146;s office is the obvious choice to adopt the recorder#146;s functions because many of the recorder#146;s duties align with already existing divisions under the clerk. He noted that out of the 10 largest counties in the country, Cook County is one of only two that has a separately elected recorder and clerk.#147;I believe that it makes no sense to have an $11.7 million, 206-employee agency tasked solely with record-keeping,#148; he said. #147;And I believe that if we allow the public to decide whether they want their tax dollars to continue to be spent this way, their answer will be a resounding no.#148;Additional information regarding Commissioner Fritchey#146;s proposal can be found at http://www.fritchey.com/?p=415.