Candidates vie for recorder position during club meeting

Editor's note: A direct quotation by Scott R. Clark was corrected below.

Contenders for the Cape Girardeau County recorder of deeds position spoke their piece during the Cape County Republican Women's Club meeting Friday afternoon at Dexter Bar-B-Que.

Republicans Scott R. Clark, the current recorder, and Drew Blattner, assistant director of the Cape Girardeau County Archive Center, will face off in the primary election Aug. 5.

Blattner is a ninth-generation Cape Girardeau resident and said he has always been interested in the history of people and property. Blattner has been the assistant director of the archive center for more than six years and says he is passionate about its promise to preserve and protect area records and make them available to the public.

"I know how important it is to preserve these records for future generations," he said.

Blattner said though he loves his job, he feels he can provide better customer service at the recorder's office, particularly in making public records, such as marriage licenses, more readily accessible.

Blattner expressed concern about people not being able to access records in their entirety. He said he has heard from people who visited the recorder's office and received copies of "book entries" of marriage records, which include only basic information, instead of copies of the full records.

Marriage records are kept in the county at two locations: the archive center and the recorder's office.

Clark has been the county recorder for the past three years and said he didn't know of any situation in which people had come into the recorder's office and been denied records. Only people who use the recorder's office pay for the recorder's office, and the office remains open and available to the public, he said.

Some marriage licenses date back hundreds of years and consist of information scribbled on little scraps of paper, Clark said, and his primary responsibility is to protect and preserve them.

Since he took over as recorder in 2011, marriage, plat and other records can be searched, viewed and printed from online, Clark said.

In June 2012, the county received its first e-recorded document. E-records are faster, more thorough and "more secure than you can possibly imagine," he said.

Protected copies of records are stored at the archive center and are not not available, Clark said. Records also are transferred to microfilm and stored in other areas outside the state.

Since Clark took the position, the recorder's office now accepts credit cards, along with checks and cash, making it easier for people from outside the area to obtain copies.

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Pertinent address:

236 S. Broadview St., Cape Girardeau, MO