Opinion: Norfolk County registry faces setback as disaster recovery office closure sparks concern

Dear Norfolk County resident,

I am thankful for the privilege and opportunity to serve the residents of Norfolk County as their Register of Deeds.

It disappoints me to have to write this letter to Registry users and to those that rely on the land records at the Registry for title to their home.  I was informed that the longtime Registry Disaster Recovery office in Dedham since it was established will be permanently closed by the County Chief Information Technology Officer (CIO) under the direct control and supervision of County Director John J. Cronin.

This Disaster Recovery Office was opened a decade ago as part of a business continuity plan should the Registry of Deeds building in Dedham become incapacitated.  This Registry Disaster Recovery office was used during the COVID-19 pandemic and was part of the reason the Norfolk Registry of Deeds remained open and operational every work day during the pandemic.  This story will sound familiar to those that followed the saga of the Norfolk County Commissioner and County Director John J. Cronin eliminating the direct report to the Register of Deeds Information Technology Department and staff.

This unfortunately is the sequel.  The County CIO wrote that this decision had been looked at over the last 18 months.  Yet in those 18 months neither I nor Registry staff were informed of any of this or even consulted by the County Information Technology Department or County Director.  There has been no discussion about this matter with me nor my staff.  Possibly the Disaster Recovery office could be kept in Dedham where the Registry has been located and doing land recordings since 1793 in addition to whatever planned new Disaster Recovery Office that hopefully gets opened.

This lack of discussion and transparency is a hall mark of Norfolk County Government operations. It is troubling especially when there was a recent “information technology incident” or breach of the Norfolk County Commissioners Administration office that was so bad employees are getting notifications at home from the County’s insurance company to watch their personal accounts.  It is all so troubling and compels me to let those who depend on Registry services to know about this development.

Sincerely yours,

Bill O’Donnell, Norfolk County Register of Deeds