St. Louis County, Minn. Launches E-recording Service

June 25, 2013

St. Louis County in Minnesota has made a big step in transitioning from an entirely paper-based recording system to a new, digital e-recording service with Simplifile. The service will expedite document recording for both the county and its customers while significantly reducing mail and paper costs.

After a year and half of creating a new interface to electronically record documents, St. Louis County is now accepting electronic documents for recording with Simplifile.

“It wasn’t a matter of flipping on a switch for e-recording,” said Mark Monacelli St. Louis County Public Records and Property Valuation Director. “We had to re-write our entire database using current technology and write a state of the art application to convert our paper-based Torrens registration system to a fully integrated electronic model along with creating a whole new interface to begin e-recording.”

According to Monacelli, although the process took longer than expected, the county is excited to have this new capability and is working hard to expand the types of documents that can be electronically recorded.

Monacelli was a major proponent in the history of e-recording. As the e-recording industry liaison and president of the Property Records Industry Association (PRIA), Monacelli led a team of hardworking and passionate people in creating the infrastructure for e-recording and the XML data standards in alliance with the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization (MISMO).

“We feel privileged to be able to work with St. Louis County and Mark Monacelli,” said Paul Clifford, president of Simplifile. “Mark is often referred to as the ‘evangelist’ or ‘godfather’ of e-recording. He was a driving force behind what is in the marketplace today, traveling all over the country and working hard to get e-recording going back when no one knew what it was. Without question, we are honored to celebrate this milestone for St. Louis County with him.”

Monacelli remains an active member of PRIA, serving on the PRIA Council of Advisors and as the co-chair of the PRIA Property Records Education Partners (PREP). He is also the author of PREP, which provides a structured forum at the local level for industry stakeholders to meet and work more effectively.

St. Louis County is the 57 Minnesota recording jurisdiction to e-record with Simplifile and is currently accepting mortgage satisfactions and assignments. Land document submitters can begin e-recording in St. Louis County immediately through Simplifile with high-speed Internet access and a scanner.


Contact ALTA at 202-296-3671 or communications@alta.org.