Norfolk County Register, Commission In Debate Over Report Finding

DEDHAM, MA - The results of a report commissioned by the Norfolk County Commission last September to point out for government inefficiencies has sparked a war of words between Register of Deeds William O'Donnell and the Commission over the recommended removal of his on-site information technology staff.

The report, which can be accessed at this link, was conducted by consultant Mark Abrahams of the Abrahams Group from September 2020 over the course of a year as part of a paid study requested by the Norfolk County Commissioners. One report recommendation was the removal of the Registry of Deeds office's information technology team. The team includes an on-site chief information officer and an information technology officer.

The Registry of Deeds uses a different software system for its records than the other non-school county offices. The report recommended that all departments other than the one used by the Norfolk County Agricultural High School - which uses a different system - be consolidated.

O'Donnell's argument

"The way I look at it, this is such an unsound policy decision," O'Donnell said in an interview with Patch earlier this month. "There is so much at stake."

He added that Mark Abrahams never visited the Norfolk Registry of Deeds during the course of his study for the report.

"Yet he delivered a disastrous recommendation as it relates to the Registry operations and to all who rely on and use Registry services," O'Donnell said.

O'Donnell disputed the need to remove a two-person team.

"The report is now recommending to remove a department that has worked effectively for the past 20 years," O'Donnell continued. "It just seems counterintuitive. This is the way that land records are recorded and stored in the age of information technology and cybersecurity. The key to this is that we have the technology and the personnel to handle sharing information on site."

The IT department has been able to digitize more than 11 million documents dating back to 1743, according to O'Donnell, which allows the public access to information.

"As Register of Deeds, I strongly believe I have a fiduciary and statutory duty to protect each and every document recorded by and on behalf of the residents of Norfolk County, especially those land records evidencing the fundamental and constitutional right of property ownership," he said. "In this digital age, access and protection of your land records are inextricably tied to a strong, secure and vigilantly maintained Registry IT infrastructure. I have a duty to speak out."

The response from the Norfolk County Commission

Joseph P. Shea, chairman of the Norfolk County Commission, released a two-page letter Friday afternoon in response to recent press releases from O'Donnell's office criticizing the report and the manner in which it was conducted.

"Once again, we must pause from the act of governing to respond to outrageous statements made by our colleague in county government, the Register of Deeds," Shea said in the letter. "Once again Norfolk County stakeholders have received a flurry of emails, letters, and press releases, and once again we must answer bold-faced misstatements from the Register."

A misstatement Shea noted was that the Commission spent $175,000 on the consultant who produced the report.

"In September 2020, the County contracted with the Abrahams Group to complete a comprehensive review of financial, operational, staffing, and regional service areas of our organization," according to Shea's letter. "This thorough review cost $78,800 in total, not $175,000 as erroneously reported to you by the Register of Deeds."

The analysis was performed as a means of cutting costs and streamlining service in Norfolk County departments.

"The question before the Commission is simply should the non-school County departments have one technology department or two," the letter continued. "The question is not about where the Registry CIO will sit, or what work she or he does every day. The debate and discussion about which of the Abraham’s Group report’s recommendations to implement will be undertaken at an open County Commission meeting in the coming weeks."

Shea's letter pointed out that, in preparation for the FY 23 budget season, feedback has been and is currently being sought on the report in a Wednesday series of meetings with Norfolk County departments, including the Registry of Deeds. O'Donnell is expected to appear before the Commission in December.

"As you may have read, our colleague, the Register of Deeds does not share our progressive and thoughtful approach to public management," Shea said in the letter. "The Register instead chooses to cast doubt upon the process and aspersions upon the vendor who undertook this review."

The letter stated that on March 4, all 46 workers at the County Registry of Deeds Department received questionnaires about their work within the County from the Abrahams Group. O'Donnell responded to a questionnaire, according to the letter.

"Indeed, beginning on March 4, 2021, there were a minimum of 10 separate events involving contact and collaboration with the Registry of Deeds and its staff to produce the Abrahams Group’s recommendation," according to Shea's letter, "including multiple conversations between the Register and the Abrahams Group."

He added that in-person contact was prohibited during much of the pandemic because of the building was closed.

"While the Register has the right to his opinion, it is our duty to remain focused on this critical review of operations," Shea wrote. "We welcome factual discourse of the pros and cons of the various proposals advanced by the Abrahams Group in their report."