News from the Office of the Recorder of Deeds, Chester County, Pennsylvania
April 2021
Officials:
Chris Pielli, Esq., Recorder
Erin VanRyn, First Deputy
Diane O'Dwyer, Second Deputy
Nancy W. Pine, Esq., Solicitor
Mailing Address:
Chester County Recorder of Deeds
313 W. Market Street, Suite 3302
P.O. Box 2748
West Chester, PA 19382
Telephone: (610) 344-6330
Fax: (610) 344-6408
Email: RODinfo@chesco.org

Click "Records Search" for records online.
Hours: The office is open Monday through Friday from 8:30am to 4:30pm. Same-day document recording stops at 4:00pm. Same-day plan recording stops at 3:00pm.
Fees: For a full list, click here.
For more FAQs and an archive of past newsletters, please visit www.chesco.org/recorder.
Continuing to Cope with COVID-19
• Masks and social distancing remain required.

• The front lobby is limited to no more than two customers with a designated overflow waiting area.

• The Search Room remains closed to the public, except for Title Searchers who may make an appointment by calling our office. All other inquiries will be directed to our front desk.

Many of our customers are able to complete their business and find answers to common questions on our website. If you need additional assistance, please email us or call (610) 344-6330.
Recorder Remarks
Hi Folks,

We hope this issue of Good Deeds finds you all safe and well! It has been another banner month for the ROD as we experienced increased recording in a red hot real estate market. With that in mind, it is time for some long overdue promotions. Please join me in congratulating two all-star members of our team, Maggie Moore and Francine Jenkins, on their recent promotions from Recording Technician II to Recording Technician III positions. Maggie and Francine's combined years of service and experience have proved an invaluable asset to the continued success of our office. We look forward to working with them in their new positions.

Speaking of new, please keep an eye out for our next innovation as we transition to paperless, electronic, ACH RTT monthly payments to our Municipal and School District partners. This means cost savings for us as we move away from signing and mailing actual checks. Additionally, our County municipalities and school districts will get that much-needed cash quicker than ever. We plan on completing this transaction by June 2021. Hats off to our accounting team, Carissa Petrelia and Ishmael Brown, for making this happen, and also to Rich White at S&T Bank.

While on the subject of cash, thanks to our fearless friend in the Chester County Finance Department, Sena Kim, we were able to crunch some figures for you and are extremely proud of our performance during the first year of new leadership. The bottom line is, in 2020, we had the highest year of revenue going back to at least 2005 (did not look back beyond this) and the lowest year of total expenditures since 2012. This was done through a combined effort of creative innovations, cost-saving measures and a "can do" attitude from staff during a record amount of document recording, all while slugging through a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic. I am continually in awe of these team players and what they have done for our County during these difficult times. They epitomize what it means to be a true public servant.

As always, we thank you for your continued support of our department. It is an honor to serve you, the public, to the best of our ability. We welcome any feedback to help improve and successfully continue our mission. Until our next issue, Stay Well, Stay Safe and Stay Strong. Please note, you can sign up for future publications here if you have received this in forward.
Chris Pielli, Esq.
Recorder of Deeds
Recognizing Our Staff
The Recorder of Deeds office would like to congratulate team members Maggie Moore and Francine Jenkins on their recent promotions, both from Recording Technician II to Recording Technician III. We are extremely thankful and proud of their hard work and exemplary dedication that has led to this career achievement and the continued success of our department.
Tenure & Work Anniversaries
We also thank the following staff for their tenure and many years of service to the County of Chester:
Employee Name
Ishmael Brown
Liz Collins
Jane DelPaggio
John Doran
Sue Gayser
Francine Jenkins
Maggie Moore
Kayla Murphy
Diane O'Dwyer
Carissa Petrelia
Erin VanRyn
Employee Title
Recording Technician II
Recording Technician I
Recording Technician I
Recording Technician I
Indexing Specialist
Recording Technician III
Recording Technician III
Recording Technician III
Second Deputy
Finance/Bookkeeper
First Deputy
Years Served
3 Years
7 Years
20 Years
15 Years
28 Years
13 Years
20 Years
8 Years
3 Years
17 Years
18 Years
*Includes service to all Chester County departments; does not include employees with a tenure of less than 1 year.
2020: Record Breaking Savings & Revenues
The Recorder of Deeds office has made great strides since its transition to new leadership in January of 2020. Numerous innovations, cost-saving measures and a high level of productivity have made 2020 a banner year for our office. Bottom line: we had the highest year of revenue going back to at least 2005 and the lowest year of total expenditures since 2012. Thanks to our entire team for making history during the most challenging of times.
Click here to view financials from 2006-2014
Earth Day: April 22nd, 2021
In 1970, Earth Day was born in the U.S. as 20 million Americans first mobilized to call for greater protections for our little corner of the universe. EarthDay.org established itself that same year as a global movement to diversify, educate and activate the world's people on climate change and environmental destruction. Today, the organization works with more than 75,000 partners in over 190 countries to drive position action for Earth.

Chester County is pitching in and has released a draft Climate Action Plan prepared by the Planning Commission in partnership with the County's Environmental and Energy Advisory Board, which provides an updated greenhouse gas emissions inventory as well as an action plan for reducing emissions and improving energy efficiency throughout the county. Here at the Recorder of Deeds, we regularly consider how our department can support environmental sustainability. Even small initiatives help cumulatively. For example, our office has helped to reduce its environmental imprint by changing our delivery method of plans to Harrisburg from shipment via courier to digital transferal and we will soon go paperless with our monthly RTT paychecks.
Source: EarthDay.org
Interesting Innovations to Come
One of our many planned innovations is in the works and will soon be here. Stay tuned for our new ACH payment delivery method to our Municipal and School District partners who receive monthly Real Estate Transfer Tax checks from our office. The outdated current practice of signing actual checks, then sending them by regular mail has proven time-consuming, costly and not environmentally sustainable. The ROD office is currently testing out this payment delivery method with a few participants and we are expecting to launch it for all of our partners by June 2021.
Bubbles the bulldog is the official mascot of the Recorder of Deeds and best fur friend to First Deputy Erin VanRyn. Bubbles has all the answers to common questions as well as helpful tips to expedite your recording process without any major issues. Woof-hoo!
Do I Have to Submit a Return Envelope with My Documents?
Bubble says – "Yes! Submitter(s) must include a self-addressed, stamped envelope of appropriate size with sufficient postage to accompany each document or plan submitted for recording.

Not doing so will incur the cost of postage as well as a $2.00 fee. That's bad to the bone!"
Recorded Documents: YTD
33,672
84%
eRecording
News from the Office of the Recorder of Deeds, Chester County, Pennsylvania
April 2021
County of Chester, Recorder of Deeds | Website