Recorder candidates tackle technology, accessibility issues

Sam Allison, Democratic challenger for Monroe County recorder, said he has the ideas and the experience necessary to be worthy for the job.\nAllison has worked with information management, including creating an entire database system from scratch while working for a nonprofit organization involved in urban revitalization.\nHe said the matter of teamwork is of even greater importance than high-technology issues that could help with his duties as recorder, which include maintaining records such as deeds, mortgages and other miscellaneous documents, according to the Monroe County government Web site.\nAllison also said he hopes to improve the county perpetuation fund, which is an accumulation of user fees, such as money the public pays for copying documents. The Monroe County recorder oversees this fund. In recent years, the fund has grown to more than half a million dollars. Taking cues from other counties, Allison said he hopes to use money from the perpetuation fund to pay employees' salaries. He said he hopes to spend less money from the Monroe County general fund.\nMonroe County, Allison said, has been "really scraping by just to meet the most basic needs of the county." These needs are currently being paid for with money from the Monroe County general fund, he said. \nAllison said more money will be available for Monroe County services by using the perpetuation fund to pay employees' salaries, which totaled more than $180,000 last year. Allison said basic services like parks and libraries could also use more funding. \nAllison said that by using more money from the perpetuation fund for employees' salaries, the county might be able to give employees a raise while helping the community.\n"If we are elected by the people of Monroe County, the people of Monroe County are going to want us to serve the entire county as best we can," Allison said.\nAllison has a master's degree from IU's School of Public and Environmental Affairs and is the current treasurer of Democracy for Monroe County.