Erin Canfield, Incumbent Republican Boone County Recorder, May 20, 2026

Continuing our visits with candidates and today I'm visiting with Erin Canfield. She is our current Boone County Recorder Republican and on the Republican primary. Erin, thanks for taking time to visit with us. Thanks for having me, Jim. It's always great to come in here. So let's talk a little bit about what this is your first time running. Have you run run for reelection before? This is your first one, right? This is my first reelection campaign. I did not have a challenger in the primary when I ran the first time. So this is definitely a different animal and I have realized how short the time is between the last day to file your papers and the primary election, which is coming up very soon, June 2nd. So primary is again, doesn't happen very often, but so here we go. We've got the primary coming up. Now let's talk a little bit. Again, you first ran for this. You had been working in other county offices, but you decided you want to try the the recorder position. You felt that you had something you could offer for that position. Absolutely. So I started in the recorder's office in 2018. I was actually hired two recorders before me. Veronica and Istrom was getting ready to retire and they needed somebody to fill up in the empty space. Chris Duncan ran that year. She was unopposed. There was no Republican candidate. That office has been Democrat led for a very long time. So I spent two and a half years working in the office, learning the daily processes, everything I could, and there just wasn't a great personality match. So I had the opportunity to move and join the treasurer's office. Lauren is amazing. She's a great boss. She's a great leader for that office. She's done amazing things. And I was very happy down there. I got along well with everybody. I learned the job pretty quickly, but I kept getting approached about my old job and how there needed to be some change up there. And I said, okay, well, let's try. So ran for election in one. Well, let's talk a little bit about it. A lot of people just go, what does our recorder do? Yeah. So bottom line is in, and I know some of the things that when you ran, you talked about some of the, your goals of improving the office and service. We'll talk about that in a sec. But for what essentially is our recorder? Right. Our recorder is the first step, and that could be a good or a bad thing, depending on your views of it, in the property tax collection process. So if the assessor didn't know who owned a home, they wouldn't be able to assess the valuation based on and present that to you. If the auditor didn't know who bought a home, they wouldn't be able to assign that ownership to somebody. If the treasurer didn't know who owned that home, they wouldn't be able to mail a property tax statement. So that whole process with real estate starts in our office. The number one thing we do is real estate recordings. So that's transfer documents. So like if you buy a house or if you sell a house, your mortgages are also recorded mortgage releases, which are always exciting. And then any other document that had a legal document that has to do with real estate. So we get easements and powers of attorney and just everything gets recorded. We also do birth, death and marriage certificates. You apply to get married in my office. We register and title all off road vehicles and vessels. So an ATV a side by side, a snowmobile, a boat. And then we sell hunting and fishing licenses, as well as your deer tags, your turkey tags, your, you know, harvester options. We sell all of that in our office. You're the DNR outlet. Yes, we are. We are the main contact for the DNR aside from their state conservation officers. So basically recorder is exactly what it is. Again, primarily land transactions and things like that. But again, if anybody needs an authentic birth certificate, especially if you're getting your real ID passport and stuff like that, or the real ID. Yeah. So all of that, that's the office you go to. Right. So it's not just recording real estate documents. We record vital records and we keep those in Boone County. We have birth records for the county that go back. They're not super accurate the older they go, but so early 1900s, late 1800s. Okay. We have statewide birth records back to 1985 right now. And then we have statewide death and marriage records from 1956 to current. So you don't have to go to Story County if you were born in 1995 to get your birth certificate or any other county. So one of the things when you ran, it was you had ideas on how you would like to improve some of the efficiencies and things that were going on there. And I know you keep track on that and you take a look at the bottom line. If I were to say, the recorder's office is never going to make enough money to pay for it. So I mean, that's, it's one of those where you'd like to break even, you know, but that's just not something that happens just because of the limitations on how much you can charge for things. Right. And so most of the fees in our office are set by the state. Yep. Either by department or by legislation. I have spent the last two years lobbying in support of a bill that would give a modest fee increase for recorded documents because those haven't been increased since 1985. Yep. And if you hadn't increased your pay since 1985, you would not be happy either. That wouldn't get us to the profit, like to a profit point of view, but it would get us a little bit closer. It would be a little bit less property tax asked to support the office. But one of the things that I have stressed in my advocacy for the office with our board of supervisors, with the legislature, with anybody is my job is to make money for the county. That's not, that's not any part of my job to make money. My partners provide essential services and providing your real estate records in a first of file in an abstract state and making sure that those are recorded timely and accurately. That's, that's important. And having vital records, you have to have your birth certificate to get your real ID. You have to have it to get a passport. So those are essential services that we provide to the community. It's not something that we didn't get into this to make money. No, it's, it's one of those things that we gotta have a place to go to get it done. Right. I don't, I can't imagine if they centralized those services and you had to go to Des Moines to get everything you needed. It would, it would be crazy. So there was a lot of different things that were happening as you first went in there. Again, trying to digitize a lot of records as much as you could. You were looking at new ways to improve and you come up with some, again, there's new software coming out all the time, but you found some things that you feel have helped improve the efficiencies of the office. Absolutely. So when I first started to record a document, index it, and then hand it out to the various offices that needed copies of that, it was a two to three day process. And then they would get it back to us and then, and then we would mail it out. And we sometimes were looking at a week or better before we would return a document to somebody. Now, if you come in and drop a document off, we ask you to wait about three minutes. We record it and we give it back to you recorded. We electronically and automatically deliver documents to every other department in the courthouse that needs them. Not everybody needs every document. Nobody wants the mortgages. So any document that they need for their job is automatically delivered overnight. That stops us from printing things, copying them. And it also stops us from making mistakes because it's automatic. It's electronic and it's overnight. So that's improved our processes. We stopped making people come back when they apply to get married. We process those things right away. We did move to new software last year. It's been amazing for our office. It's increased our efficiency. We used to have about an average of 400 keystrokes per document. We're down under 100, which is what allows us to do those things right now when people come in. A lot quicker. Yes. It's a lot quicker. It's a lot more efficient. It saves a lot of time. And that's what allows us to be so responsive when somebody walks in. They were in the middle of indexing a document or something and they walk in to apply for their marriage license. That's why they're not waiting and coming back later because that efficiency has created the ability for us to serve our customers quicker. And that, I'm guessing, I don't know, do you do a survey? You know, it's one of those things. I'd love to do a survey and, you know, were you pleased with our service and stuff like that? You know, people got to like the fact that they don't have to keep coming. Right. So most people don't know the difference. You know, they only come into our office when they need something. So maybe they don't understand what it was like before. Maybe they don't understand that it used to be you come in, you apply, and then you leave and you come back four days later or a week later or six months later and pick up your paperwork. So a lot of things, because you don't do that. You don't get married every other year, at least most people don't. So it's an efficiency that people don't realize because they're not there every day. Same thing with the recorded documents. I've had attorneys shocked that have been practicing law and bankers. Bankers are like, you're done already? Yeah. The new system is just that quick. Attorneys are just shocked that I say, Hey, will you give me just a minute? And they're, oh, can I run across all? Yep, just come back. And by the time they come back, it's everything's done and waiting for them. So they're the ones who get to do a lot of that. Yes, that feedback has been amazing. Everybody appreciates that things are processed a little bit faster. We don't, I mean, that when we record things, that's not the end of it. That's one little piece of it. But even that piece being faster is more efficient for the people that are that are waiting or the people that would be waiting a week to get it back in the mail. And then it doesn't cost us any postage. Because I print a sticker that costs me less than a penny and hand it back to them. And that's that's it. So we really brought the efficiency. I did want to ask on the doing licensing and things for DNR. I know that they have a very, I know, because you explained to the supervisors that we get just a very small portion of those. Again, we're here, we're the place they come to, but there are other ways that they are starting to do that online. Yes, thing. Yes. But still the easy way is just come into the right. So I believe that every penny that we can collect, whether that's 50 cents from your fishing license, or $2 from your boat registration, every penny that we collect goes back to the general fund, which reduces the tax act ask for the following year. So it's not like we keep it in our savings account and we don't use it to, you know, go to lunch or anything like that. At the end of every month, that money gets paid directly to the treasurer. So every 50 cent revenue that we can collect, it matters. And yes, everybody is moving towards electronic things. So the DNR has an app, which is fine. We actually just started offering online DNR renewals on our website. It's through our new software vendor. It doesn't cost us any extra money to offer it. It doesn't cost the county any extra money. It's a service that they offer. Sure. Works great. We had somebody the first day who said, I wish you guys had an online option. And by the way, we do now. So processed it right away. It went out in the mail. He said it was great. I did call him to follow up a couple days later to make sure he had gotten it because that was our first time. Yeah. It's very simple to use. And that means that that 50 cents or that $2 writing fee that we get goes to the county rather than a third party vendor or a big box store or something like that. And I truly believe that every 50 cents that we collect, it helps. It's not a lot, but it's, it helps. If everybody in Boone County bought a fishing license from us, we would be way closer to breaking event. We would do well. Let's talk a little bit about now. So you've done an accomplished a lot here in the first term. What kinds of things would you look at continuing to improve just to keep up the efficiencies? Obviously just adding that online opportunity for licensing and stuff with the DNR. That's, that's got to be a big help. Yeah. I truly believe that the work that we've started is not done. And I, with the way technology is, I don't think improvements and process improvements and increasing efficiency is ever done. You don't get to a point where you're like, okay, done it all. Check the boxes. We're as efficient as we can ever be. Because I don't think that's true. There's always new processes. There's always new different ways to do things that can still change things for the better. So I, we've been with Fiddler for almost a year. There was an adjustment period. There was a period where they were building a communication tool between the Fiddler program and our old software vendors so that they could still share information. There have been periods of adjustment for that. We have, we offer now property fraud alert. Sign up on our website for that. And you only enter your contact information and how you want to be contacted in your name. And if you sign up for that, anytime something is recorded in our office with your name, you'll get a notification. Notary fraud alert. If you're a notary, it does the same thing. You put in your information, tell them how you want to be contacted, and they'll send you like a weekly digest of how many times your notary stamp was used. And then the DNR renewals, that's the most recent thing we added. Those are three of about 12 programs that Fiddler offers at no costs, extra costs to the county, at no extra costs to the consumer that could make things better. So we have the electronic delivery to the courthouse offices, to our abstractors, to anybody that wants it for our documents. What we don't have right now is the ability to electronically deliver those documents to the person that came in and dropped and brought it in. We don't have the ability to electronically deliver the mortgages that get mailed or anything like that. There's a program that they offer, and it's called SWIFT, and it would allow us to electronically deliver any document the person chose to have delivered. There's also a program that they offer with SWIFT, and it is tagless scanning. So you scan the document in, it electronically attaches the recording information, and then electronically sends it out, so that we don't have to spend that one cent per sticker. So there are other improvements that are still out there? Oh, they offer a ton of things, and the great thing about Fiddler is they didn't just sit on their honches and say, okay, we've got the best software out there, and we're good with that. They're constantly improving. They are constantly in our county teaching us things, asking us for feedback, and that's not just here, that's everywhere, everywhere I've seen. They have amazing technical support and customer service, and they are constantly improving and evolving. And I think that as county government, we should also be constantly improving and evolving. So I'm very pleased with how far we've come, but I know the work isn't done, and I don't want to see our office go backwards and go back to the way it's always been done, because that's easier for everybody, or because there's not the knowledge of how it could be.

How much new things have you learned in the time? I mean, you go because there are some pretty interesting things that have been happening, again, with new software and things like that. Yeah, so I came in with the knowledge, like the basics of how the office ran, of what to do every day when people came in, and what to do with just the basic office operations. I have learned how so many other people do things in a different way from us. We all do the same basic tasks, but nobody does them the same, and across all the counties that I've visited, and I've learned a lot about, I've still learned more about the law. My background is in, as a legal assistant or a paralegal, that's where the bulk of my experience comes from. So I've learned more about the law than I did before. I've learned a ton about the legislative process and how things work down at the Capitol, and I just, I don't ever think I'll stop learning. So one of the big things, the last session, one of the topics was, do we combine recorders with other offices? And I know you had some definite thoughts about that. Oh, yeah. So I have a lot of respect for the elected officials that we have, and even though I worked in the treasurer's office for a year and a half, I know that what I did is not what the treasurer does, and I know that there's a learning curve in each office. There's a learning curve in the auditor's office, and none of those offices do the same thing. We might do similar things, like they title on-road vehicles, I title off-road vehicles, they work with the DOT, I work with the DNR, and then there's questions about, okay, so if I can issue a birth certificate and a marriage certificate, the person next to me can issue a driver's license and the lady upstairs issues a passport. That seems like it could be fraught with the potential for fraud. Which is part of why when we started doing passports in the recorder's office, it got moved. It got moved, yeah, because the passport agency said you can't issue a birth certificate and a passport. There's too much potential. Not that anybody would ever be dishonest and do something like that, but the potential for it to happen would not be good. So we do similar things. The other thing is, our office is so specialized. It took me more than six months to become familiar with indexing. It took me probably a year and a half to be comfortable with it, and I'm a quick learner, and I enjoy learning stuff like that. I have now had my clerk two years, she'll be in there two years tomorrow, and Christina has been with me as my deputy since the beginning, since I took office, and Christina worked in the assessor's office, so she knew legal description a little bit, and they have done such an amazing job. I can't imagine asking them to learn elections and budget, like the county budget, and how to be the board secretary, and claims, and payroll, and all the things that the auditor's office has, or motor vehicle, driver's license, property, tax. I can't imagine asking them to learn that and do it all. There's just too much information that's so specialized for each office. I just, I think it's a terrible idea, and I don't think that any of our, you know, the auditor, the treasurer and I, we all met with our representatives, and none of us were in favor of that idea, and it didn't sound like they were either. So, I mean, I know people are saying, wow, we got to find ways to, you know, I can see counties combining a recorder, but again, that's, it depends where you're at, too. Right, and I think that smaller counties, like Boone is, we're considered like a mid-sized county. We're in the middle, yeah. So, we're like the 23rd most populous county, and so we're kind of in the mid-sized county, and it would add staff to one officer or the other, it would add a drive to one county or the other if they were going to combine, you know, county offices. And for some people, that's not feasible. I get pushed back a lot when I have people that live, you know, in that sliver of Perry or the sliver of Woodward or the sliver of Slater that is technically Boone County, and they have to come to our office and drive by another county recorder's office to title their boat. Yeah. You can renew it anywhere, but you have to title it in your home county, and I get so much pushback about that, or because they technically live in Boone County, they were born in Boone County, but now they live in Marshalltown and they can't get their birth certificate from them, and they'd rather come to us than go to the state. Yeah. We get a lot of pushback about not having everything. You're like, I don't make the rules. Yes, I do not. I have, I've tried, given it my go at presenting legislation that would help things. Unfortunately, we just didn't quite get it across the finish line this year. All right. Running for reelection, so let folks know how they can find out more. I know you've been out campaigning. Yeah. I am available by email, by phone, by text. I've got a Facebook page. Anybody can reach out. I love talking about our office and what we do. That's one of my main goals is to advocate and educate what we do. So any questions or anything that we can help them with, we will do our best. Thanks so much for joining us. Thanks, Jim.