Trouble at the Beaufort County Court House | Eastern North Carolina Now

By:  Hood Richardson

Government employees and elected officials seem to be distancing themselves further and further from the public. Many local government offices are no longer accessible without an appointment or one has to be buzzed in through electronically locked doors.   Covid is the excuse that started this snowball rolling.   My experience with government has taught me that government agencies are not necessarily run for the benefit of the public.  Most are predominately managed and run for the comfort of the employees.  For example, there will be a lot less work required if all those deeds and documents are filed electronically.

Not respecting the public or the public need is how Carolyn Garris, with no experience in what registers of deeds do, can within five days of filling the appointed (not elected) office, by herself, make a decision that impacts the property rights of every citizen and conflicts with several hundred years of tradition.  I am talking about Beaufort County no longer recording hard copies of deeds. Included in the word “deeds” in this article are all the other documents filed in the same books as deeds such as powers of attorney, deeds of trust, loan releases, etc.

Let me clear the air. I am not opposed to the electronic filing of documents.  I am not opposed to having documents on the internet.  I use web sites of many courthouses in my work.  That saves me and my customers money, and makes me more productive and accurate.

The issue is the protection of the public and their property rights.  This can only be accomplished with an instantly accessible filing system or systems. Historically, with the support of several laws,  the ownership of real property has been recorded with the  Register of Deeds. at county courthouses.  North Carolina law generally prescribes that if not recorded in the public registry there is no proof of ownership. The law on real property ownership is all over the place in other states.  It is very clear and prescribed. in North Carolina.

In general, North Carolina law provides for the electronic recording of deeds, powers of attorney and other instruments electronically provided, any citizen may go the register of deeds and use an alternate or back up system to obtain copies.  The Secretary of State provides a system to back up or store deeds should we have a disaster such as our court house be burned or even hit by a meteor. We should be able to have our deeds replaced from the Secretary of State’s archives. 

When the power goes off the electronic filing system ceases to exist  until the power comes back on..  Hard copy books in the court house are the best and most logical back up for Beaufort County citizens.

Consider powers of attorney.   Powers of attorney are usually not very important until an event occurs that triggers the need for the document. If decisions need to be made by an executor, it is more than likely the executor’s authority can easily be confirmed from courthouse records.  If the power goes off, it could be confirmed from deed book filings.  Say the backup system for deed filing requires electricity to operate.  Then the power of attorney cannot be verified, and harm is done.  Not many people walk around with a satchel of deeds and powers of attorney.  The reason for a free-standing system of records is for the time that no person thinks will ever happen but sooner or later does.

This appointed (not elected) Register of Deeds, Carolyn Garris, misused her authority and office within 5 days of her taking office. 

Carolyn Garris obtained the vacant register of deeds office by unethically using her position as Chairman of the Beaufort County Republican Party.  She deliberately did not inform the Beaufort County Republican Executive Committee of the register of deeds vacancy while she lined up votes on the Executive Committee to get the job. She dissuaded applicants who tried to apply for the job.  Is it any wonder she would further abuse her authority by violating the Beaufort County Budget Ordinance.  .

Carolyn Garris has violated the law and has failed to provide a public notice that there is an acceptable back-up system for recording documents in Beaufort County (if there is one in existence). 

County budgets are enacted as ordinances (laws) primarily to keep public officials, both elected and hired, from failing to use public funds for the uses for which they have been appropriated.  Beaufort County Commissioners appropriated the money, provided the personnel and other facilities to maintain the books in the register of deeds office in the same manner as during the past several hundred years.  No notice was given to the County Commissioners that the method of filing documents would be changed.

Various excuses have been given for not continuing to use the hard-copy books. All are bogus. There will be more on this in a later article.

I am dismayed by the arrogance of Carolyn Garris and her disregard and ignorance of the public interest as it relates to the register of deeds.  Five of our commissioners have rallied around Carolyn Garris saying that elected officials can do as they please.  This is simply not true.  One reason is that Carolyn Garris does not have taxing authority.  This is a part of our system of checks and balances. The five commissioners who are willing to allow her to run wild have that taxing authority.  It is that taxing authority and the budget ordinance (law) that are intended to control officials who want to change the world.  Only Stan Deatherage and I have been willing to protect property rights and documents. 

I placed Carolyn Garris on the October Beaufort County Commissioners agenda for a discussion about the filing of documents.  Carolyn Garris refused to attend.  This is a mark of immaturity and defiance.  At the end of the day the Beaufort County Commissioners are responsible for seeing that deeds are properly recorded. A Beaufort County Register of Deeds was removed from office for cause during the 1990’s.  He, too, got the appointment (not elections) because of political influence.

County Commissioners are ultimately responsible because we make the appointment to the office, and provide the money to run the office.  Moreover, it is the County Commission that is ultimately responsible to oversee and ensure that the legally mandated services are provided to the People.  The Register of Deeds must follow State rules, laws and standards for recording documents.  When they do not do their job it is up to the County Commissioners to remove them from the office.  The party-politics being played by Commissioners, Frankie Waters. John Rebholz, and Randy Walker have no place in evaluating the performance of any county employee.  The Register of Deeds is a county employee.

The three RINO’s are being played for suckers by Democrats Langley and Booth.