After a whirlwind renovation and reorganization, the west side office of the Pasco County Clerk & Comptroller’s Official Records Division has finally reopened, on Monday, Aug. 22, 2016.

“We’re changing with the times,” said Pasco County Clerk & Comptroller Paula O’Neil, PhD. “As public records have become more available online, the need for customers to visit our Official Records Library has decreased.

“The redesign enables us to make better use of our existing space, while also addressing the evolving needs of the public.”

Widely regarded as “the happy division” for its emphasis on those episodes in life that provide cheer — passports, marriage licenses and deeds to new living quarters — the Official Records office, Suite 220 in the West Pasco Government Center, is nearing the end of a two-month, $34,642 updating that will make the space more welcoming, efficient and, with an improved work flow, customer friendly.

Even the ambiance is congenial. A fresh color scheme chosen by Official Records teammates — a soothing blend of tropical blues and greens — hints, appropriately, at a Caribbean getaway.

The urgently needed update, the first since the building opened in early 1995, emphasizes customer service, beginning with an expansion of the number of work stations where Official Records teammates attend to customers, plus a larger, more comfortable waiting lobby with additional seating.

Renovations include a new viewing niche equipped with desktop computers for researching the Clerk’s substantial and growing number of electronic records, including plats, all of which are available online atwww.pascoclerk.com. Original plats are stored in the vault in Dade City. However, customers needing copies can have plats printed in Official Records.

Teammates will be available to assist customers who need technical guidance.

A couple of features that made the previous office popular remain. For passport-seekers, there’s still a one-stop office for filling out forms and having a portrait shot. Across the way, a conference room that can accommodate as many as a dozen can be reserved by not-for-profit groups.

The west side’s Official Records modernization is part of a wave of changes triggered by the revolution in of public records-keeping. Records traditionally maintained on paper and collected in files or even binders are increasingly being converted to electronic documents.

Florida has been a leader in the movement to electronic records, and within the state, Pasco has been at the forefront. In her first term as Clerk, Dr. O’Neil acted quickly to provide access for title companies, banks, attorneys, and lien filers to electronically register land records and documents in the Official Record.

These days, many commonly requested records are available online. Many others can be provided via email. As Dr. O’Neil noted, these innovations have reduced the need for customers to visit the Clerk & Comptroller’s office while also shrinking demand for large viewing spaces.

Under Dr. O’Neil, for instance, cumbersome and fragile microfilm and microfiche are being being phased out, and the space reallocated. Eliminating the microfilm viewing room created space to accommodate the call center’s move from the West Pasco Judicial Center to the redesigned Official Records office.

Similarly, vast stores of law books that are available as electronic files are both easily searchable and require minimal space, making obsolete the venerable law libraries in the east- and west-side courthouses.

Accordingly, Dr. O’Neil has agreed to convert the traditional law libraries into legal resource centers available to both lawyers and the public. Under her plan, staffers will be available to provide assistance and sell certain simple legal forms.

On the west side, the new legal resource center will bloom, conveniently, in the space once occupied by the Clerk’s call center, located just off the first-floor main lobby near the Civil Division.