What is
the inter-affiliate agreement?
The Agreement to Create and Manage an Internet Web Portal for County
Real Estate Data (inter-affiliate agreement) is an agreement between the
four affiliate organizations of the assessors, auditors, recorders, and
treasurers.
What is the inter-affiliate agreement?
The Agreement to Create and Manage an Internet Web Portal for County
Real Estate Data (inter-affiliate agreement) is an agreement between the
four affiliate organizations of the assessors, auditors, recorders, and
treasurers.
What is its purpose?
The inter-affiliate agreement creates the county real estate web portal
(CREW portal) and establishes a new entity to manage it.
Who
wrote the agreement?
Members of the County Real Estate Electronic Government Advisory
Committee (CREEGAC) developed the agreement. That committee was
established in 2005 by House File 882 for the purpose of developing a
plan to integrate the various Internet websites housing county real
estate data.
Who
is on the CREEGAC committee?
The legislation creating CREEGAC specified the following members: two
treasurers, two recorders, two auditors, and two assessors, as well as a
banker, attorney, Realtor, abstractor, credit union representative, and
one person appointed by the Iowa State Association of Counties (ISAC).
You can see a full list of committee members at the end of this
document.
Why
are these four affiliates involved and not other county offices?
These four affiliates were named by the legislation because they
represent the offices that have statutory custody of county real estate
data.
Has
the agreement been reviewed by an attorney, and do the affiliate
organizations have the legal authority to sign it?
Yes, to both questions. ISAC attorney David Vestal has reviewed the
proposed agreement, and his additions and corrections are incorporated
in the current draft. Also, he has stated his opinion that the
affiliates have the legal authority to enter into a contract or
agreement.
When will the agreement take effect?
The
inter-affiliate agreement will take effect upon adoption by each of the
affiliate organizations representing the assessors, auditors, recorders,
and treasurers. The agreement will be presented for adoption to each of
the affiliates during the 2007 spring ISAC meetings.
What is the term of the agreement?
The
inter-affiliate agreement is for a five-year initial term, and will
automatically renew for one-year periods.
Can
it be terminated?
Yes. The inter-affiliate agreement can be terminated either by the
withdrawal from the agreement by two or more affiliates, or by a vote of
the majority of the CREW board, following written notice to the
affiliates.
Will this replace the affiliate websites, like the recorders’ Iowa Land
Records system?
No. It will exist independently and in addition to the affiliate
websites.
What real estate data will be stored on it?
No affiliate data will be stored – it will always be retrieved on
demand. The CREW portal will be linked to the affiliate websites, which
is where the county real estate data from their respective members is
stored.
Is
it an Internet search engine?
No. The CREW portal will be linked to the search engines at the four
affiliate websites.
So,
if it doesn’t house any data and has no search engine of its own, what
does it do?
The CREW portal will use active links and program logic to:
Run
concurrent searches on the affiliate websites.
Prioritize and consolidate returned data.
Display results in an understandable and user-friendly manner.
Use frequently asked questions (FAQs) and Help Desk e-mails to
communicate with users.
Why
not just link the affiliate websites?
The
CREW portal will have links to the four affiliate websites. The
functional benefit is that the user can use the CREW portal to do
concurrent searches and avoid reentering information such as a parcel ID
number.
Are
the four affiliates required to sign it?
No. Both House File 882 and its successor House File 2794 require only
that the four affiliates “develop a plan” to integrate their websites.
So
if it’s not mandated by law, why should the affiliates participate?
Based on the intent of the two House Files and on conversations with
members of the local government committees of both the Iowa House and
Senate, it is the opinion of the CREEGAC committee that the legislature
will mandate participation, if county affiliates do not take action on
their own initiative.
Why
not just wait until the legislature requires us to do so?
CREEGAC members believe we will have more control over the outcome and a
better finished product by acting on our own initiative.
Where can I see a copy of the agreement?
Copies of the
inter-affiliate agreement in a pdf file format are available at the ISAC
website,
www.iowacounties.org.
Who
will be in charge of the CREW portal?
The
inter-affiliate agreement creates the County Real Estate Web portal
board (CREW board) to govern and manage it. The CREW board will have
eight members, two appointed by each of the four affiliate
organizations.
What authority will the CREW board have?
The
CREW board will be authorized to enter into contracts, set policies, and
adopt budgets for the operation of the CREW portal.
Why
doesn’t CREEGAC manage it?
CREEGAC is a creation of House File 882 and does not survive beyond the
term of the legislative session. Members of the committee feel strongly
that CREEGAC has been effective in self-governing, and has adopted a
similar model for the CREW board.
What about stakeholders like attorneys?
CREEGAC has encouraged participation by various “stakeholders” such as
attorneys, bankers, credit unions, Realtors, and abstractors, as well as
members of the Iowa Counties Information Technology (ICIT) and
supervisors’ affiliates of ISAC. The inter-affiliate agreement
explicitly continues this inclusion by stating.
Where will the funding come to build the CREW portal & who will build
it?
CREEGAC, with the co-sponsorship of the ISAC board of directors, applied
for and received a $146,000 IOWAccess grant on March 7, 2007. The
Department of Administrative Services – Information Technology
Enterprise will write the system.
Will the CREW portal sell data?
No. The CREW board has no authority to sell any data. Affiliate
members will retain any and all authority to sell data for which they
each serve as legal custodian.
How
are ongoing operations costs funded?
The
four affiliates will each pay one-fourth of the cost of operations of
the CREW portal. For the first two years, each will pay $3,000 per
year. This should be sufficient since the annual web hosting and
maintenance are estimated at $10,000 to $12,000 per year, and since the
first-year web hosting costs are covered by the grant funding.
Why
not sell data to fund the operations costs?
The
consensus of CREEGAC members was that the issues of setting up fee and
apportionment schedules and payment mechanisms complicated the operation
of the CREW portal and delayed its implementation. They decided to
leave these issues to the affiliate members, who already deal with them
on their respective websites.
What effect will there be from the existence of the two treasurers’
websites?
Both treasurers’ websites will be linked to the CREW portal. Any effect
of their co-existence will be transparent to the user, because the
program will search the appropriate website and display the resulting
data.
Will confidential information be stored?
No
data will be stored on the CREW portal, and only public information will
be accessible from it, such as information already available on the
treasurers and recorders websites. The only “new” information will be
public information from auditors and assessors that do not currently
have websites.
Why
not build one website that houses all data from the four affiliates?
First, there is no benefit in doing so, since one of the strengths of
the Internet is that multiple data sources can be linked. Second, the
CREW portal can efficiently use the existing resources and avoid
duplication. Finally, the individual affiliate offices best understand
their data, and storage at the affiliate websites reinforces the
independence and control of each office and the statutory responsibility
each has for custody of its data.
What will this do to our county website?
The
CREW portal will exist in addition to the websites in individual
counties. It will be set up to link to them so that a user can
“drill-down” to the county website for additional detail. The CREW
portal will also be set up to link to the offices of other county
affiliates, as well as to certain state agencies.
I’m
in charge of the county IT department. What do I need to do or be aware
of?
There is no change to the current operation for recorder and treasurer
data. If your auditor participates in the auditors’ website, you will
need to send an ftp file of auditor-year data once per day. Talk to
your assessor, since the operation for assessors is unique to each
county. You may also choose to have a link between your county website
and the CREW portal.
Who
gave CREEGAC the authority to require all of these changes?
Currently, there is no requirement – either from CREEGAC or the
legislature – for counties or affiliates to participate. The
committee’s legislative mission was “to develop a plan to integrate” the
affiliate websites.
So
why does CREEGAC want to develop the new web portal?
The
committee members took the initiative to implement the plan because they
believed it was the ultimate intent of the legislature and because they
felt it was in the best interests of the public and the county
affiliates. |
Inter-Affiliate
Agreement