Owner of title company that worked rent-free in Pierce County Clerk’s Office speaks out

The president of a private title company that had been operating in the Pierce County Superior Court Clerk’s office for more than 30 years rent free told The News Tribune this week she followed county guidance when operating in that space.

Beth Salmon, who started Title Support Services Inc. in 1991, said the company paid monthly utilities and fees for copies and would have considered paying rent if the county had asked.

The county lost about $29,000 in rent by allowing Title Support Services Inc. to operate in an 87-square-foot space for free, Pierce County communications manager Libby Catalinich told The News Tribune last week. Title Support Services Inc. vacated the office on Dec. 1, 2023, and Salmon was asked to vacate the office she was using in summer 2023, Catalinich said.

News of the rent-free deal came out amid discussions about a recent audit of the Pierce County Superior Court Clerk’s Office that found the department had a “significant lack” of financial control and general oversight in 2022, as well as a March News Tribune investigation that found allegations of a toxic workplace environment under clerk Constance White’s leadership.

For decades Salmon said county clerk staff allowed her team to pull and view public case files using the office’s microfilm machine. That practice was mutually beneficial as county staff time was limited and her team was pulling sometimes hundreds of records per week, she said.

Kevin Stock, who was the Pierce County clerk from 2003 to 2021, told The News Tribune he kept the practice because it was a better use of staff time and resources.

Most of the requests Title Support Services makes are on microfilm or hard copy, so her team was just viewing public records and not modifying them, Salmon said.

Pierce County has repeatedly said Salmon asked for a five-year extension of her arrangement last summer, but Salmon told The News Tribune this week she did not seek an extension.

“We pay our bills on time. We’ve done everything we’ve been asked, and, if they brought up paying for the room or something, we would have been happy to work that out one way or the other,” Salmon said. “I’m sorry that there’s all this turmoil going on in Pierce County. The clerks of Pierce County are wonderful people, and we’ve always got along with everyone, so I would hope that this is a short-term problem for the county.”

Salmon said Title Support Services Inc. is a small company that will continue to request records from the Clerk’s Office multiple times a week, although it makes fewer requests now than it has in the past.

“We’ve always tried to get along the best we could with everybody and make sure we’re not stepping on anybody’s toes. We really did our best to do that all the way over the years … and we’ve never had a problem with any of the counties,” she said. “We’ve worked in King County, Pierce County, Thurston County. We’ve worked in Kitsap County, Snohomish County. We’ve always had very good rapport with all the county administrators, and we’re not utilizing any space or anything that a title company wouldn’t be able to utilize.”