Published: January 08, 2009 08:23 am      

County records, documents now available online

By Libby Cluett
lcluett@mineralwellsindex.com

When Barnett Shale drilling and pipeline activity was taking hold in Palo Pinto County, the county clerk’s office could be packed with “land people” searching property deeds and information for the oil and gas business.

County Clerk Bobbie Smith recalls times when there were 30 researchers in her office at one time, with 15-20 upstairs and about the same number in basement.

“It was wall-to-wall people,” she said.

But this could be a thing of the past for Smith and her staff, since many of the records are available online.

Via EagleWeb, at www.countygovernmentrecords.com, Palo Pinto County now provides online indexes for documents dating back to 1986 and portable document format file images back to May 2003.

Through this online public access site individuals can perform searches on public documents by entering one or more pieces of information – the document number, grantor name, grantee name or date range of the document.

Numerous types of documents are available, including affidavits, right-of-ways, leases, warranty deeds, easements, assignments, notices, writs and many more.

“It’s only for research and for the convenience for those people who do not wish to come to Palo Pinto County. You pay a monthly fee and have full access to the computer,” said Smith.

There is no cost to become a registered user and search the index. PDF images appear distorted initially, but require a fee for clear images – $1 per image or $250 per month, which allows unlimited access to document images.

“It will generate not only fees, but it will encourage the land people to stay at home or in their office and look up records back to 1986,” explained Smith.

In addition to land people, she added that the county’s new public research tool might appeal to abstractors, attorneys and businesspeople, “but they will still need to come to courthouse for a certified copy.”

Although it comes during a lull in the oil and gas business, it seems this new tool is available just in time.

“We have been told it [oil and gas activity] will probably start back up again in February,” said Smith.