Mission Statement 

“The mission for the Archuleta County Clerk & Recorder’s Office is to fulfill its statutory obligations regarding motor vehicle registration and titling, recording documents, issuing marriage licenses, and holding elections with the highest level of customer service and integrity, in the most cost effective manner possible for the benefit of the citizens of Archuleta County.” 

Description 

The Clerk & Recorder is the ex-officio recorder of deeds and has custody of, and the safe keeping and preservation of all documents received for recording or filing.  The office is set up to receive electronic filings.  It is the job of the Clerk & Recorder to issue Marriage Licenses, reconciling monthly with the Colorado Department of Health and the Colorado State Treasurer.  Services included in this office are the ones that pertain to motor vehicle; i.e. titles, registrations, liens, duplicate titles, etc.  The office’s revenue is reconciled monthly with the County Treasurer and the State’s portion of revenue is disbursed electronically by the Treasurer.  The Clerk & Recorder completes the budget each year in a timely and accurate manner based on requirements set by the Board of County Commissioners and the needs and requirements of the office. 

Core Services 

Motor Vehicle 

The Clerk & Recorder manages and oversees employees in the Motor Vehicle Division.  They provide vehicle registrations, titles, record searches and recording of motor vehicle liens.  Motor Vehicle also includes: temporary permits, sales tax, fees, balancing and title batching.  The office is now equipped through Department of Revenue to accept credit cards for motor vehicle transactions.  Vehicle registrations may be renewed online; payment would be made via credit card and the registration and new sticker would be printed by the office staff and mailed to the customer the next business day.  

Recording 

The Clerk & Recorder manages and oversees the Recording Department.  The function of this department is to record and maintain public records, and to provide that data to the public in an efficient manner, at the least cost to Archuleta County.  Marriage Licenses are issued and recorded with monthly reports being sent to the Department of Health and the Colorado State Treasurer.  The office is now equipped to receive electronic recordings of specific documents.  We have the capability to store all recordings on a website accessible by the public for a fee.  This is additional revenue for the County.   

There is a restricted fund set by Colorado State Statute for the Clerk’s Office.  There is a $3.00 surcharge fee collected for each document recorded.  $1.00 is kept by the County to fund this process.  The other $2.00 goes to the State and into a restricted fund to be used by counties needing financial help in keeping up with their recording systems. Colorado Statute allows this money to be used to pay for the annual maintenance of e-Recording and the storage on the web where customers pay to access the recording data.  The e-Recording money will be shown as expenditures and as revenue in the budget.     

Clerk to the Board 

The Clerk & Recorder or a deputy must attend all meetings of the Board of County Commissioners and take minutes.  The Clerk & Recorder oversees preparation, storage, scanning and archiving of minutes.  Minutes are approved by the Board of County Commissioners.  Minutes are currently posted on the County’s website and free to research.