Date: Fri 18-Dec-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

town-clerk-records

Full Text:

It's Official: "We're A Very Busy Town"

(with photo)

BY STEVE BIGHAM

Town Clerk Cindy Simon announced this week that her office broke a record for

the number of documents recorded in one year.

"We hit 10,000 this morning," she said Tuesday.

The previous record for documents recorded came in 1986-87 when the town clerk

recorded 8,661.

"We're booming," Mrs Simon noted. "Interest rates are low, there is lots of

refinancing and the houses are selling. We're just a very busy town."

Documents included in the count include anything that has to do with land

records: deeds, mortgages, liens, mortgage leases, probate documents, military

discharges, tax liens, sewer liens, etc.

"A zillion different things," said the town clerk.

Or, in this case 10,000 items, which are stamped and numbered when they come

in, either by Mrs Simon, Sue Shpunt, Blithe Dotson or Jean Salvatore.

In a comparison between the month of October 1997 and October 1998, Newtown's

overall residential and condominium sales were up 22.8 percent. That's more

than any other town in Fairfield County, except Darien and Trumbull.

Of course, 1998 was the first year condos have been sold in Newtown, so that

figure is up 146 percent.

Mrs Simon said it used to take her staff an entire month to fill its 999-page

volume. "Now we're doing them in about ten days. This all leads up to the fact

that we're running out of room," she said.

The town clerk's office is a busy place these days with attorneys and title

searchers creating a constant flow of traffic. Nevertheless, Mrs Simon is

proud of the fact that the office is indexed right up to the minute.

"Lawyers and title searchers commend us all the time. We make it a priority,"

she said. "Some towns are behind a couple months in their indexing. The law

requires you to be up to date. It is not good record keeping if you're not."

Mrs Simon has been working in the town clerk's office since 1982. She has been

clerk since January of 1988. She credits former assistant town clerk Gladys

Eddy for teaching her how to keep up with the flow.