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MARY ON
BUSINESS ISSUES:
Do you see ways in which the office you seek
could be streamlined or
operated more efficiently?
When I took office the computer system was COBAL language, an antiquated
system. It is now modernized and many of the same staff have been trained to
write .net code.
To support Minnesota
businesses, we must continue the terrific customer service my office is now
known for and continue to ever adapt to the needs of our customers. We will
continue to further improve the business filing systems, meet our customers
desire to do add more business filings via the web and ultimately add to
Minnesota's economy by reducing fees. Additionally, I will ask the Legislature
to change the financing and fee structure of my office so the fees are reduced
by an overall 45% and the remaining fees go to fund the operations of the office
and provide resources for the development of more online services requested by
our customers.
The Secretary of State's office has played a
leading role in the issues
surrounding Electronic Real Estate Recording. What do you see in the future
for this issue?
The future includes preserving Minnesota's long-standing and successful practice
of recording real estate transactions at the county level while working to
continually improve the process using technology, for county administrators and
the business community they serve.
The Electronic Real Estate Recording Task Force that I Chair and its members
have worked together to coordinate improvements to the real estate recording
process by establishing standards, procedures and technologies needed to support
real estate transactions electronically. We will continue our successful pilot
work by establishing additional pilot projects with counties to test and refine
these improved methods. The result of these efforts will streamline and
strengthen an important component of Minnesota's economy.
What is your position on mandates imposed on
local governments?
I am opposed to mandates that do not include proper funding or incentives. The
best approach to implementing improvements involves including local governments
in the initial discussions and establishing incentives for change. An example
of this approach is the change implemented due to Revised Article 9 of the UCC.
Here we solicited and received valuable input from county recorders into the
business practices, systems and fee structure needed to serve them and the
business community. The result is a statewide network for business filings that
serves business and also maintains county revenues generated from their filings.
Another is the statewide contract for election equipment established by the OSS
that provided significant cost savings for local governments through leveraged
purchasing. Finally, by working with local governments we were successful in
establishing a Voting Equipment Grant Account that provided state matching funds
for election equipment and increased voter equality - all without requiring
mandates.
Do you believe additional restraints should
be placed upon what the media
may publish? If so, what?
No. A cornerstone of democracy and the support of liberty are a well- informed
citizenry. To achieve this goal, government and the media have important roles
and must work together. From an elections standpoint, I believe citizens must
have confidence in both the process and outcome. This is why our office has
worked closely with the media to develop the country's first-ever precinct-level
election night reporting system. Likewise, our office has made it easier and
faster for the public and the media to obtain information about Minnesota
businesses. Individually, these efforts provide good information; combined, they
build trust in our government.
For more information on the official Business Center of the Secretary of State Office go to www.sos.state.mn.us