Seymour Hopes To Upgrade Pay Online Services

Lianna McMurray

SEYMOUR — Come next spring, renewing a dog license, filling out a marriage application and accessing land records is going to get a whole lot easier for residents.

That’s according to town clerk Lianna McMurray, who recently gained unanimous approval from the Board of Selectpersons to switch to a new online land records management vendor.

McMurray, during the board’s Oct. 18 meeting, explained that the contract the current company the town uses, Virginia-based Avenu, is expiring in March. McMurray said there have been complaints from residents and support issues that has led to problems with real estate transactions, along with a lack of customer service support, which is why she wanted to go with a different vendor. In addition, McMurray said the online records search that the current company utilizes is difficult to use, and her office has received numerous complaints about it.

“We have been unhappy with them for some time now,” McMurray told the board. ​“The customer support has gotten worse over time, leading to system downtime and interruptions for staff and residents that can impact real estate transactions. We constantly get complaints.”

Because McMurray said there are only four main land record management vendors that service Connecticut, she researched the three other companies in hopes of finding a new vendor to replace Avenu once their contract is up in March. She also reached out to all the town clerks across the state, asking which vendor they use, and having received 40 responses back, learned the majority use a New York-based family company called IQS.

“I hear more and more everyday of town clerk’s offices switching to IQS and it being the best decision they have made,” McMurray said.

McMurray said a demonstration of IQS’ system convinced her that they’d be a good fit for Seymour’s needs and will provide residents with a much more ​“user-friendly” experience.

McMurray said she’s been looking to find a new vendor for some time, and with COVID proving to be a challenge and limiting in-person access to the town clerk’s office, she wanted to expand access to digital services to make the system easier to use for residents and others.

Going with IQS, McMurray said will introduce the use of credit card payments for services, as opposed to the cash-only based transaction system now in place. Other convenient services offered to residents will include the following:

*Online dog license renewals, enabling residents to license their dogs without leaving home; will also enable the town’s animal control office access to dog records, so they can search from their cars, instead of going to Town Hall

*Online marriage applications to help save residents’ time in processing the application

*Free fraud alert notification system-if a land document is recorded in a residents’ name at Town Clerk’s office, the resident will receive an email alert and a link to the view the document (McMurray said property is ​“a big concern these days”)

First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis said the new system will afford residents the ability to check things online after hours, as well as the ability to complete forms and get dog licenses from the comfort of their homes.

The new system won’t be in place until sometime next March. McMurray plans to inform residents of the improved services via information posted on the town’s Facebook page, town website and local media outlets.

McMurray said the cost to switch to IQS is comparable to the current vendor. She said IQS charges $1,850 per month with equipment and various fees. Avenu charges $1,200-$2,000 per month, and their fees are going up, McMurray said. 

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