For the past 4 years, many of you have heard me repeat this mantra over and over again:

My priority is to deliver excellent and efficient customer service

I truly believe that my staff and I have lived and breathed this every single working day. We work hard to make your visits to my four departments a pleasant experience and to make sure you get whatever service and information you were seeking.

County Clerk’s website www.co.cayuga.ny.us/clerk
County Clerks Email sdwyer@cayugacounty.us

Four years ago I promised that the County Clerk’s website would be user friendly and it would include downloadable forms. Customers can now download passport applications, all Department of Motor (DMV) Vehicle Forms, the County Clerks Fee Schedule for recording documents, and the County Clerks Recording page. In addition, there are links to the three other departments that I oversee: DMV, Records Retention and the Historian’s Office. I receive and answer hundreds of email inquiries a year from people looking for information about DMV issues, research, vital records, land records, etc. Email communication helps our customers to be more prepared when they come into the office and helps to decrease the amount of phone calls we get in the office.

Department of Motor Vehicle Improvements www.co.cayuga.ny.us/dmv

The Department of Motor Vehicles has seen many improvements in the last four years. As I said above, DMV forms are now available online. We painted the entire office. We have a donated television set to help make the visit more pleasant. (I pay for the cablevision myself); a Success By 6 children’s book corner with donated books from the Owasco/Fleming Kiwanis; and interesting information about local people and events interspersed throughout the office, courtesy of the County Historian’s Office and the Office of Tourism.

I enclosed notices in tax bills encouraging people to use our local DMV. I explained that when they use our office, either by mail or in person, Cayuga County retains 12.7% of every transaction processed. If they send their renewals to Utica by mail, Cayuga County gets nothing! I continually educate people of the importance of keeping their hard-earned money in Cayuga County.

In 2004, with Marlyn Salato as the DMV Supervisor, the staff won the State Commissioner’s Excellence Award and New York State DMV Commissioner Martinez visited our office to personally deliver the award to every staff person. New snowmobile registration requirements were enacted by the State DMV this year. We also partnered with

Cayuga County Snowmobile Association and came up with a plan to make sure our customers would not have to pay an extra fee.

Bringing Services to You….County Clerks Goes On The Road

I continuously travel to different sites to bring services to my constituents. I have visited town and village clerks, schools and businesses to promote Passports and other services. My partnership with the Sheriff’s Office for “Passport and Public Safety Days” has been a huge success and we will be traveling to the southern and northern parts of the County during the summer months.

Growing Customers and Revenue

The Cayuga County Clerks Office is Your Passport Headquarters! Since 2004, I have brought $123,900 in revenue by increasing our passport application business. I’ve put together a comprehensive marketing plan to promote my office as the premier Passport Headquarters. I bought passport cameras and I have a highly-trained and experienced staff . I found that if a person has a pleasant experience in my office, it results in word-of-mouth advertising for more people to come in and apply for a passport. This increased revenue goes directly into the County coffers. Ultimately this helps each and every taxpayer in Cayuga County.

Online Records

Per the law, our Land Records (deeds and mortgages) have always been open to the public. Now we have some of our Land Records online. You can find these at www.Landacess.com then click on Cayuga County. There is a small fee for this service. Frequent online users, such as attorney’s abstractors and title companies greatly appreciate this service.

Historian’s Office www.co.cayuga.ny.us/historian

Shortly after I was elected, I was given the oversight of the Historian’s office. I am fortunate to have Sheila Tucker as our County Historian. The Historian’s Office website and its links are a huge success. Genealogy is America’s new hobby. We have many people who come from afar who love history and want to search their roots. Between the records in the County Clerks office, the Historians Office and our Records Retention Center, we have an archival treasure of records to help people in their searches.

Records Retention Center www.co.cayuga.ny.us/records

Located at the old jail on Court Street, the Records Retention Center is a safe haven for all of the County’s records. I am also responsible for the storage of Supreme and Surrogate Court Records. Bill Hulik Jr. is the Records Coordinator along with two other full time staff. Mr. Hulik’s expertise in records management was key to obtaining a grant for $38,000 for the back scanning of land records in my office.