Politics: Heather Dawbarn anounces run for re-election of Rutherford County Register of Deeds position

Apr 16, 2014 at 02:02 pm by bryan


Heather Dawbarn has officially declared her intention to run for re-election for Rutherford County Register of Deeds on May 6th, 2014.

Commenting on her first term as Register, “I have been relentless in reducing line-item costs in my budget as well as using available technology to streamline and reform our office.”

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Read the Press Release from Heather Dawbarn below:

Heather was elected in 2010 and has applied her business experience to raise expectations, consistently improve results and lower costs as she promised to do when she was elected.

Heather is married, a mother of two and a new grandmother. Heather has previous experience running a financial business with her husband and is very active in her church.  She also volunteers every year on Thanksgiving eve, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with Meals-on-Wheels coordinating the volunteers who prepare 500 meals for shut-ins around the Nashville area.

Commenting on her first term as Register, “I have been relentless in reducing line-item costs in my budget as well as using available technology to streamline and reform our office.”

Due to her hard work and responsible leadership, she has reduced her budget significantly every year by cutting costs and reducing waste in her office. She is fighting to save every single penny for Rutherford citizens.

Dawbarn worked with State Sen. Bill Kentron and State Rep. Joe Carr to have a state law changed allowing her office to implement her new records management system county-wide. This project included researching and installing an in-house microfilm lab, an archive writer and a high speed scanning system.  Since the program was implemented, a savings of $208,000 in the first three months has been realized.  With only 7 of 32 county offices served so far, it is likely the savings will exceed over $1,000,000.

With Dawbarn’s leadership, the Register’s office was able to catch up any back-logs very quickly reducing the need for more space.  The County Archive’s office building was designed to expand as the records increased.  Dawbarn was informed at a recent County Records Committee, on which she currently serves; the Archives building will no longer need new space due to her new Records Management Program, which will add to the overall savings for the county. 

Laura Bohling, the Circuit Court Clerk commented, “We’ve scanned and filmed a backlog of nearly 400 court minute books. Today, we’re up-to-date with our records and have a solid system in place for processing them. Heather’s Records Management Program has reduced our costs to just a fraction of our original estimate using outside services.”

Rutherford country Sheriff Robert Arnold said. “We have already saved $30,000 and that number will grow because of the program created by Mrs. Dawbarn.”

Lisa Duke-Crowell, Rutherford Country Clerk commented, “We can now manage our documents at a fraction of the cost and save a substantial amount of what we were spending.  We are very excited about the Resister of Deeds Office being able to help us manage our documents more efficiently. 

Walker Buford, who is the official records management analyst in the Register’s office said, “This is a ground breaking program in Tennessee; no other county is doing what we are doing. Inter-agency cooperation is a great way to reduce costs for our citizens.” 

Last month, Heather introduced another technology enhancement - E-filing in Rutherford County. “It’s a value-added service now available to those who have long awaited electronic records delivery. I promised in 2010 to offer this additional service and the results thus far have been above our expectations”, says Dawbarn. 

Heather maintains an “open door” policy if you would like to stop by for a chat or take a tour of her office.  Her staff excels in professional, friendly service and is eager to help you with your inquiries. 

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