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Heather Dawbarn Announces Bid for Re-election for Register of Deeds

Mar 14, 2018 at 07:54 pm by Bryan Barrett


Heather Dawbarn has officially declared her intention to run for re-election for Rutherford County Register of Deeds in the Republican primary on May 1st.

In 2010 the local Republican Party recruited Heather Dawbarn to run for Register of Deeds. She stepped up, took the challenge and became the first Republican to ever hold the office since the county was formed in 1803.

Previous to her role as Register, Heather was able to implement many of her skills and leadership ability she developed while running a financial services business with her husband since 1995. She served on the Board of Founders where she opened and ran her own office in Manchester, England in 2003. This international exposure broadened Dawbarn's leadership skills as she vetted, hired and trained representatives from all over the world.

As the Register, Dawbarn has made tremendous improvements which include reducing her budget 8 years in a row. Heather has focused on improving service while saving money.

Technology has played a big part of improving service to the community. Heather launched Electronic Recordation (E-File) of documents which offers a Book & Page number in minutes by remotely submitting electronic documents via the web. This reduces time, labor, and costs on both ends of the transaction and helps companies reduce their errors on submission.

http://rutherfordcountytn.gov/registerofdeeds/Records_Management_Initiative.htm

Dawbarn had 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. This has created over $1,000,000 in savings over the last four years by offering digital scanning and microfilmed backups to many County offices. She saves approximately a quarter million dollars a year in savings with this technology. The State of Tennessee Library and Archives recently toured Heather's lab and decided to replicate it exactly as she designed. Dawbarn instituted an aggressive cross-training program which now ensures every staff member's ability to perform every responsibility in the office. This has resulted in continuity of operations risk reduction as well as, improved morale and improved customer service. Heather also implemented flex-time and comp-time allowing staff to work convenient hours while fulfilling their responsibilities eliminating personal burdens for some.

Dawbarn's hard work is reflected in her 2017 award for "Register of the Year" for Middle Tennessee and elected President of the Tennessee Registers Association in 2018. She also was named to the Board of Directors to COAT (County Officials Association of Tennessee) which she liaisons with State Legislators to comment on positive or negative effects of proposed legislation. She is currently working on a bill which would claw-back approximately $330,000 in commissions previously taken away from the Register's office when the State had hit hard times. There is positive movement on this bill at this time.

Heather serves on the county's record management committee and has made significant contributions to the security of county records. Ms. Dawbarn volunteers and supports numerous community organizations. She is a long-time member of the Rutherford County Republican Party, the Ru Co Republican Women and has been an auxiliary member of the Young Republicans and the College Republicans.

Dawbarn 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.

Heather Dawbarn is married to Jake Robinson her husband of 32 years. She has two adult daughters and a granddaughter. She graduated from the University of TN at Martin and is a member of Community of Christ. Heather Dawbarn humbly asks for your vote on May 1st or early vote from April 11th - April 26th.

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