The Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — It’s a little known fact that the Routt County Clerk and Recorder’s Office is the center of the romantic universe in Steamboat Springs.

“We’re kind of the Las Vegas of Colorado,” Clerk and Recorder Kay Weinland said Monday. “We get a huge number of people coming in for marriage licenses. A lot of people come here for a ski vacation and decide to get married. March is our busiest month.”

Couples opting to get hitched in Steamboat this month should be advised that love has moved down the hall for remodeling. For the next five to six weeks, many of the services provided by the Clerk and Recorder’s Office will shift a few doors west in the Routt County Courthouse to the old personnel office across from the Treasurer’s Office.

“The good news is the motor vehicle department will be unaffected, which is really important for the public,” Weinland said.

However, anyone who wants to file deeds and real estate transactions, or apply for a marriage license, needs to visit the new temporary location.

Tina Fry, recording supervisor for the county clerk, said title companies and others who need subdivision and plat maps out of the office safe should e-mail or call ahead of time (phone: (970) 870-5556; fax: (970) 870-1329; e-mail: clerk@co.routt.co.us). Staff will have limited access to the safe during remodeling and will try to coordinate those requests to one time each day, she said.

The elections office already has moved a half-block away in an office behind Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory at 624 Lincoln Ave.

Weinland is optimistic that the large amount of information available online at www.co.routt.co.us/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=80519 will offset some of the inconvenience for the public.

When the construction is over, the office will return to its original location, Weinland said. The staff and visitors will find a modernized office with computer wiring embedded in the walls and the ceiling lowered to accommodate up-to-date heating and ventilation.

It’s just one phase of work going on throughout the old courthouse building.

“We’ll have a better courthouse when we’re all said and done with it,” County Commissioner Doug Monger said.

So, how many marriage licenses does the Routt County Clerk and Recorder’s Office issue?

“It depends entirely on the month,” Fry said. “It can range anywhere from five to 40.”