Almost two years after title searchers approached Carbon County for help with a case management system plagued with problems, members were back asking for additional help because not all the bugs were worked out last time.

Last week, Leslie Solt, a title searcher with nearly 40 years of experience, told the Carbon County Commissioners that the Tyler Technologies Odyssey case management system is still providing some problems when it comes to completing title searches.

She thanked the commissioners for the instructional classes that they set up following Solt’s last visit, noting that they were helpful in learning the new system. She added that there are still “a lot of kinks in the system.”

She said that when a title searcher needs to find a title to make sure there are no liens or anything attached to that title, the system doesn’t always show you results.

“When you go in an search a name, it comes up and there is nothing there,” she said. “We cannot document that it says ‘nothing’ because it doesn’t allow for it.”

Solt added that when the county looks at renewing the Tyler contract this year that the commissioners opt to upgrade the system to hopefully get some of the kinks resolved.

“We’re still searching by the first name, which since Roman time, you’ve never documented anything by first name. There’s still a lot of kinks in the system and there’s several problems that we have.”

Commissioners’ Chairman Mike Sofranko, who wasn’t on the board at the time this system was installed, said that the county had looked into it and noted that the county is going to make some adjustments.

He asked about the classes that were held to answer some of the questions and Solt said that they were wonderful and “very informative.”

Solt also pointed out that title searching is a dying profession, with less than 2,500 title searchers nationally.

“We’re trying to get new people to come in and replace us, which we have to do. People buy and sell real estate all the time. People take mortgages out all the time, but the Tyler system just has so many kinks. If you look at other counties, their systems are so much better than ours.”

Jennifer Roberti of Paramount Abstract provided the commissioners with examples of what title searches look like in other counties, as well as Carbon.

In the Lehigh County search, which Roberti explained she searched for Smith with an asterisk and O with an asterisk, the search picks up several results.

However, doing the same search in Carbon’s system, the results page doesn’t show what is being searched.

Roberti also used an example of a search that she knew would come up with zero results. “I used a name that nobody would ever use,” she said, noting that the last name was Zebra with a first initial of Z.

In the Lehigh County search, it showed what she entered and reported that there were no results found.

“In Carbon County, it shows nothing,” she said.

“It gets more complicated if there’s businesses involved, and the fear is, you know, that I have to answer to somebody. Leslie has to answer to somebody on what do we do to find these things. It’s labor intensive. You have no idea.”

Different variables can cause additional headaches, Roberti said, noting that title searching is critical and must be thorough.

“If there is some kind of lien that lasts indefinitely and we can’t capture it, then that’s a problem,” she said. “If any of you were buying a property that had a lien on it, and Rocky (Ahner), you know this, it’s going to fall on the person and we’re going to have a problem. What if it’s an IRS lien for $125,000? How are you going to feel if I call you and say, ‘Hey, we have this lien and you could have done something to correct it had we been able to find it. That $125,000 is coming down on me, my title company, my underwriter. It’s got to go somewhere and it should be held accountable for the people that have the lien on them.”

The commissioners didn’t respond much besides thanking the pair for the examples.

Carbon County implemented the Tyler Technologies Odyssey case management system in April 2023. It had been purchased on the recommendation of the courts in 2021 at a cost of $604,840.

At that time, the system replaced the Anita Civil Case Management System.

In June 2023, several title searchers approached the board about the problems they were having with the system and the county had not previously been aware of.

At that time, they said the system created additional liabilities for their businesses.