Cass County recoder: Mike Medsker says he’s brought back an office that was in disarray

A “W” on his birthday Nov. 4 would make Republican Mike Medsker a happy man.

Medsker, who has held the Cass County recorder of deeds post since 2011, is being challenged by Libertarian Falon Kohler. She did not respond to a request for an interview.

The recorder’s office is responsible for all land transactions in the county, marriage licenses and handling state tax liens.

Medsker said that when he took the job four years ago, the office was in financial disrepair and staff layoffs were rumored. One reason, he said, is that the previous recorder had written a $400,000 check for the county’s broadband project, a high-speed Internet initiative that ultimately failed.

He had hoped to use some of that money to post more information online for the public, but that would have to wait.

“We’ve made a lot progress in the last four years coming from where we started,” Medsker said. “... There are some things I want to finish.”

A youth coach outside of work, Medsker said he used his leadership expertise to rebuild his team and fix the finances.

“Now we’re at the point where we’ve been able to put plat maps, surveys and indexes up online for free,” he said.

Medsker also said his office has been able to halve the cost of search fees for citizens and businesses.

“We’ve done a lot with what little we have,” he said. “We’ve become more business-friendly, more citizen-friendly.”

This story was originally published October 18, 2014 at 4:20 PM with the headline "Cass County recoder: Mike Medsker says he’s brought back an office that was in disarray."