We have two abstracts offices in our county. One has been around for a long time, and the other one was started a couple of years ago. We have had some problems/questions brought up concerning the copying of the public records by the abstract offices. The old abstract office for as long as anyone can remember has taken the original documents from the county clerks office to their office after they have been recorded, made copies and brought the documents back to the county clerks office. The newer office has placed a copier in the basement of the county clerk�s office to copy the documents that have been filed (with approval of the Commissioners Court).

The newer abstract office has requested to place a scanner in the county clerk�s office to scan the documents. The commissioner�s court denied this request due to space problems. Now the newer office wants to have the same privilege to take the recorded documents to their office to make copies. Whatever is done it is my opinion that both offices need to be treated in the same manner. There is very limited space in the County Clerk�s Office. There is also no way the two offices could share any type of office equipment.

Questions/problems:

1. Should the recorded documents be taken from the county clerk�s office? The documents have already been recorded and placed in the official public record � these are the original documents before they are returned to the attorney/parties.
2. The old abstract could place a copier in the basement � however there is very limited space and this was the problem with the scanner for the newer office.
3. How do we resolve this matter in order to treat both offices equally? Any suggestions?

We had a similar problem last year. The old company has been here since time immemorial, and has a copy machine in the clerk's office (we don't have a basement). The new one wanted to put in their own, and the old one didn't want to share. Between space and electrical limitations, we couldn't have two copiers in there.

The Clerk took it to the commissioners who spoke with both companies and told them to reach an agreement before a set date or neither would have privileges. They worked it out....