Court computer records
contract canceled

The system was supposed to
provide easy public access to data but
an official says it has problems

By Ian Lind
Star-Bulletin

State court administrators are pulling the plug on a system that was supposed to give the public easy access to computerized versions of court records.

Administrative Director Michael Broderick notified Hawaii Microfilm Services Inc. last week that its contract to furnish a document imaging and access system for Oahu Circuit Court will be terminated in 60 days.

The system has been plagued with problems since it began operating in April 1997, said Nathan Kim, chief administrator of Circuit Court. Kim said Hawaii Microfilm had trouble keeping the computer system running, and had failed to deliver service improvements promised in the contract.

Kim said there have been constant problems because the system can't handle mistakes by unsophisticated users.

"Trying to do something the program isn't set up to do, or clicking the computer's mouse in wrong place, can crash the system," Kim said.

Mary Ann Oros, a professional public records researcher, said the system is of no practical use because it is too slow and unreliable. "It's been a source of great frustration," Oros said. "Nobody tries to operate it anymore. They just seem to be saying it's not worth the effort."

Under the 10-year contract, Hawaii Microfilm was supposed to set up a system allowing court documents to be located, read and printed by computer, reducing the need for personnel to handle paper files.

The company copied documents onto CD-ROMs accessed through computers set up in the Circuit Court's public document room, and plans called for additional computers at other locations statewide.

Hawaii Microfilm was given exclusive rights to copy court documents daily, and was required to set up the computer-imaging system at no cost to the state.

The company was then free to sell services to law firms or other clients at commercial rates.

Title Guaranty, which has established a similar imaging system for the Bureau of Conveyances, warned in January 1996 that it was unrealistic to expect the system to be funded entirely by a private contractor, according to correspondence in Judiciary files.

Hawaii Microfilm was the only company to submit a no-cost proposal, although Title Guaranty and two other firms submitted offers requiring some payments by the state, which were rejected.

"HMS Inc. has not complied, is not complying, and does not intend to comly with the requirements set forth in the agreement," Broderick wrote in the termination notice.

The Judiciary might reconsider the termination if convinced by May 1 that Hawaii Microfilm "can and will" comply with the agreement, Broderick stated.

Chang H. Shin, an officer and director of Hawaii Microfilm, said the company would be meeting with Judiciary officials to resolve the problems.

Shin said the company had received the termination letter but had not yet been provided full details of the problems. "Nothing is firm," Shin said. But a three-page chronology attached to the termination notice spelled out nearly a year of failed attempts to get Hawaii Microfilm to respond to complaints and problems.

Hawaii Microfilm also failed to provide copies of CDs every month, failed to provide access to the system over telephone lines from other Judiciary-owned computers and failed to implement ways to search for cases or documents involving a particular person, company or attorney, the chronology shows.

An initial deadline for improving the system was imposed last summer, but apparently was not met.

Judiciary officials then wrote to the company repeatedly between November 1997 and January 1998 with specific requests and demands, but a series of deadlines passed without written responses from the company, according to the chronology.

Kim said: "We haven't given up. We feel strongly that the concept of having documents available by computer images is a good one, and we would like to see it work."

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City, firm ready
‘all-in-one’ map

The CD-ROM maps provide users
with greater access—at a hefty price

By Richard Borreca
Star-Bulletin

The city and HonBlue are preparing what they hope will be the mother of all maps.

Imagine having all zoning, all parks, all streets, all tax map keys, and fire and police stations, sewer lines, types of soil, topography, development plans, shoreline management areas, water lines and city rights of way on one easy-to-read map.

A book of city street maps costs less than $10 and banks sometimes give away maps for free, but this new map costs $595, plus tax and shipping.

What is so good about the new joint effort of the city and HonBlue, a high-tech blueprint, scanning and printing company?

The public will have the chance to see the sophisticated mapping available at City Hall.

Planners who have worn a path to Honolulu Hale getting maps of city roads, sewers and other utility lines now will have all that information on their computers. Real estate agents can search a neighborhood for schools and parks to answer a client's questions about a new house.

And contractors will be able to measure distances and areas for construction estimates.

To its developers, the system is the Swiss Army knife of local mapping products.

Shaun Meany, HonBlue sales and marketing director, explained the private-public partnership between his firm and the city.

The information is collected by the city Geographic Information System section.

The information is still owned by the city, but instead of selling paper printouts of the data, HonBlue is selling electronic versions.

HonBlue won the city's bid to publish the data, but Meany said there was little demand for the paper maps.

"With this system, we are allowing the public to share in the value of the data. It should be a great productivity tool," he said.

The city will get 15 percent of every CD-ROM sold.

The computer maps are to be available at HonBlue, 531-1248, 501 Sumner St., by the middle of the month, Meany said.

To make it simple to use, all these maps are combined on a single CD-ROM, which will run on any Windows 95-based computer.

Because all the information is stored in digital format, you can search it, print it and show as much and as little as you want through your computer.

Ken Schmidt, the city Geographic Information System coordinator, has already seen the payoff from the project, so he expects even more by putting the CD-ROMs in computers all over town.

"We've seen improved customer services," he says.

Planners and builders who once had to wait for a clerk to haul out maps from behind a counter can now call the city and get their information from a clerk looking at a PC linked to the Geographic Information System.

The new mapping product goes even further, by eliminating the clerk and even the call to City Hall.

"I think it is great, it should be a really great tool," Schmidt said.