The new register of deeds in Sedgwick County will be sworn in on Friday. The position fills a vacancy in the office left by a recent death.
Tonya Buckingham will fill in the remaining term for her boss and mentor, Bill Meek, who passed away two weeks ago at the age of 71.
The register of deeds is responsible for recording all transactions relating to real estate in Sedgwick County including deeds, mortgages, death certificates and oil and gas leases. The records are made available to the public.
Buckingham says one of her priorities is to transition the vault of documents from old paper filings to an electronic database which will be searchable online.
"Currently, our records go back to the 1960's, but moving forward, I would like to see our records go back to the very beginning of the 1870’s when we had our first document."
Buckingham, who has served as chief deputy register of deeds since 2005, will be sworn in on Friday afternoon. She was elected last week to fill the vacancy by the Sedgwick County Republican Party precinct committee members. The position will be on the ballot in the fall election cycle of 2016.
--
Follow Carla Eckels on Twitter @Eckels
To contact KMUW News or to send in a news tip, reach us at news@kmuw.org.