Norfolk County Commissioners, Register Spar Over Report

DEDHAM, MA - The Norfolk County Commissioners held a hybrid meeting with Norfolk County Register of Deeds William O'Donnell to discuss the findings of a report conducted to find ways to streamline county procedures.

Since its release in October, O'Donnell has contested the results of the Abrahams report, a year-long analysis of county departments that recommended the consolidation of his office's information technology department with that of Norfolk County.

Both sides discussed the findings today in what became a heated exchange where commissioners accused O'Donnell of spreading false information about the report to the media and via emails to residents. O'Donnell said he had the right to defend keeping his information technology department as it is.

"The Abrahams Group [report] was an effort by the county to consolidate as much as we can and to make the county as efficient as we can," said Commissioner Peter Collins of Milton.

"We feel that the Registry is a sound, customer-oriented operation," O'Donnell said as he began his statement to the commissioners. "And it certainly utilizes technology."

He noted that his department "did not experience a single day of uninterrupted service during the pandemic." He praised the staff and the technology it uses.

O'Donnell said he agreed with some portions of the Abrams report, which captured a year-long assessment of county departments beginning in March 2020. But he added he runs the second busiest Registry of Deeds department in the state, which necessitates its own on-site IT department.

"Obviously we have a little controversy as to information technology," he continued, saying the report "severely impacts" his two-person IT department.

His department's website includes a letter dated Oct. 15 to "prevent eliminating" the IT department as well as a petition to that effect.

O'Donnell asked several people to share their experiences working in his department so that the commissioners could get some perspective on the necessity of an onsite IT department.

First Assistant Register of Deeds Ed Wheeler spoke to the commissioners and offered his perspective from previously working in the Middlesex South Registry. He noted that documents need to be processed in a timely fashion.

"There are some inaccuracies that I found," he said of the report, noting that it said the office processed fewer documents than in 2019 while a chart showed that there were more.

Wheeler also noted that there was no input from "stakeholders" including the Real Estate Bar Association and the Massachusetts Association of Title Association, or the Greater Boston Real Estate Board.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it," he added of the IT department.

The Registry of Deeds runs on the BROWNtech electronic government software system, O'Donnell added, which is not used by other county departments.

Commissioner Richard Staiti of Canton noted that a tech person is usually called if there is a problem with a computer. O'Donnell responded that his employees have an "all hands on deck" approach and have some knowledge in other areas of the department.

Staiti stressed that the IT person is not being eliminated, as O'Donnell had previously written in a statement, but may be moved to another office. He also said that the report "only presented a recommendation."

"We're here to do the best we can for the county," he added.

He also suggested a compromise of an independent study by an IT expert to assess the need for the in-house staff.

Commissioner Joseph Shea of Quincy blasted O'Donnell for disseminating false information about the IT department being "eliminated" from his office.

"I read these claims seven times," he said, noting he also heard it in an interview on Quincy local access cable on Nov. 19. He also read it in "several emails and periodicals throughout Norfolk County."

"Nowhere was the word 'elimination' used," Shea said in reference to the report. "Nowhere does it say the IT staff should not be present at the Registry of Deeds.

"Yet the Registry has chosen to spend more than three months attacking a false and highly misleading premise," he continued.

Shea also said that, while O'Donnell chastised the Abrahams Group for never visiting the office, there was communication between the analyst and O'Donnell or his staff members via email "more than 60 times between July 14, 2021 and October 4, 2021."

There were also 46 questionnaires sent by the Abrahams Group to staff members, with only 16 being returned, he said, the lowest return rate of all the departments surveyed.

"Yet the Register's voluminous letters would lead you to believe that the Abrahams Group effort was undertaken in a vacuum," he added.

He also charged that O'Donnell "erroneously reported in a letter dated Oct. 29, 2021 that the Abrahams Group study cost $175,000."

"The thorough review cost $78,800 in total," Shea said.

He added that this report was the first review of its kind conducted by any county in the state.

Cybersecurity was another issue Shea mentioned.

"What you have not said is the Abrahams Group study recommended exactly what you have been demanding - additional independent, comprehensive security reviews," Shea said.

"Unfortunately, misleading claims have hampered an honest and open vetting process of this report," he added. "We as county commissioners take our responsibilities to the citizens of this county very seriously."

From there, the conversation devolved.

"We came over here to open a dialogue," O'Donnell replied, adding "consolidation is a euphemism for elimination."

"I don't think it's an elimination," Staiti countered, adding that no decision has been made. "I see it as a reorganization."

"A lot of this seems to be personal," O'Donnell shot back. "I'm advocating. A lot of people may not like the advocation. I'm advocating on behalf of the people that use the Registry."

"I commend you as an attorney for advocating for what you want," Staiti replied. "I understand that. I think you may have stretched it a little bit."

"You're talking about misinformation, but the misinformation has been coming from you and your staff," Collins said. "You really rattled a lot of people when you sent out your different communications, and it was wrong."

"Let's remove the hostility," Staiti said at the end of the meeting. "Let's move forward."