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WEST TEXAS AREA I have nothing to report for the West Texas Area at this time. I will report on the Chapters at the Board Meeting. Individual Chapter Reports should be turned soon.
Respectively Submitted, John F. Watson, RPLS West Texas Representative
SOUTH PLAINS CHAPTER 1 South Plains Chapter No. 1 has had no activity this quarter.
Submitted by Robby Christopher.
NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS CHAPTER 2 3rd QUARTERLY REPORT Submitted by Wm. “Davey” Edwards, LSLS, RPLS, CFS President, Chapter No. 2
Since the TSPS second quarterly board meeting in Austin, we have only had one meeting. Therefore, this report will be one of my shortest.
We had an early meeting on June 11th at Risky’s Steakhouse in Cowtown, Fort Worth. Our guest speaker was Bill O’Hara, director of surveying at the General Land Office. We had a turnout of about thirty members and non-members. Bill O’Hara discussed the services that the General Land Office has to offer for the surveying profession and about what he has been doing on his first year as director of surveying. We also had a general business meeting. We learned that the course development chapter challenge was to have a follow-up meeting with Shannon Carrozza on June 16th at Roger Hart’s office in Arlington.
Our education and public relations committee has been busy this month. Theron Sims, committee chairman, reported that the local Boy Scouts troop he has been working with will be working on surveying merit badges for the next academic year. They have also been creating a scholarship application for the advanced short course. The members of the chapter course development challenge met with Shannon Carrozza on June 16th. Our chapter choose field procedures as their topic. At the meeting the course was refined and creative ideas were exchanged. They assigned individuals of the committee sections of the course to work on. They are to have the course completed and submitted to Austin on September 22nd. Then they will put on a beta course in October or November. Then they will refine it for the symposium in February. We have a meeting on July 16th at Dos Gringos in Fort Worth. We will be having committee reports and a short business meeting. Bill Coleman is bringing the high school Skills USA project group to be recognized and give a brief report. Gerry Curtis has made a proclamation from TSPS Chapter 2 for John Garfield, former secretary of the Fort Worth planning department.
We will be having our last regular chapter meeting in August. We hope to have Garey Gilley as a speaker at this meeting. In September, we will have our second annual joint meeting with the Dallas Chapter for installation of officers. Coleen Johnson is to come and install the 2008 officers for both Dallas and Fort Worth. We are also looking forward to co-hosting the annual state convention in Arlington with the Dallas Chapter in October.
DEEP EAST TEXAS CHAPTER 6 May 10, 2007 The Chapter held its semi-monthly Board of Directors Meeting at the Cattle Company restaurant in Beaumont to conduct regular chapter business. Discussions included sponsorship of a local educator to the Texas High School Education Retreat in Corpus Christi, revision of chapter scholarship guidelines, upcoming TSPS seminar in Beaumont, and topics for upcoming meetings. In addition, two $250 cash scholarships were awarded to Kevin Johnston and Matt Grissom for their studies at Lamar University.
May 31, 2007 The Chapter held it semi-monthly Member’s Meeting at the Cattle Company restaurant in Beaumont. There were nine members and guests attending. Pat Smith of Austin, Texas was guest speaker who gave members a briefing on the legislative process and the role of the TSPS Governmental Affairs committee. He explained each of the three bills that TSPS supported and were passed into law including:
July 12, 2007 The Chapter held its semi-monthly Board of Directors Meeting at the Lone Star restaurant in Beaumont to conduct regular chapter business. Further discussions were held on the chapter scholarship guidelines as well as the upcoming seminar on July 14th. The board agreed to sponsor a full lunch buffet for all attendees of the seminar. Nominations for officers and directors for 2008 were discussed with a slate approved for the ballot to be voted on by the membership.
July 14, 2007 Texas Height Modernization Project seminar sponsored by the Conrad Blucher Institute and TSPS was held at the MCM Elegante’ Hotel in Beaumont. There were twenty-two surveyors attending. Lunch was provided by TSPS Chapter No. 6
July 26, 2007 The Chapter held its semi-monthly Members Meeting at the Lone Star Restaurant in Beaumont. There were twelve members and guests in attendance. Bob Rolfe of MultiVision USA in Orlando, Florida was guest speaker with a presentation on GIS integration of MultiVision 3D Plus oblique imagery on demand solutions for use by local, state and federal government, law enforcement, emergency services, Homeland Security, and disaster management and response, engineers and surveyors.
CENTRAL EAST TEXAS CHAPTER 8 Our Chapter continues to meet on the first Thursday of each month @ Ralph & Kaccoos in Lufkin). In July we had a business meeting. The main topic of the meeting was the report and discussion of the quarterly board meeting and BBQ / auction in Austin in June. The video furnished by the Public Relations committee was shown and discussed. Also, we discussed the prospects for next years officers - final nominations will be e-mailed toward the end of August and presented and voted on at the August meeting - installation will be at the September meeting.
Next meeting will be August 2nd.
Submitted by Michael G. Parker, President of chapter 8
GULF COAST CHAPTER 9 TSPS Gulf Coast Chapter No. 9 - 2007 2nd Quarter Report
The Gulf Coast Chapter memebrship has been busy again this 2nd Quarter of 2007. The Chapter has the following to report:
PERMIAN BASIN CHAPTER 10 June 28th we had a meeting at Big Daddy's Catfish in Odessa. The meeting began at 7PM with a free buffet. It was really great to see several members and non-members that have not been active lately. We had a total of 22 people present which is a large number for us. I am sure most of them came to see our special guest, President Bud Thompson. After dinner we had a brief business meeting to discuss several upcoming events. Bryan Adams of Midland attended his first Board
Meeting in June and set in on the Education Comm.Meeting. Bryan gave a report of
his experience and remarked on how impressed he was with everything and everyone
during the weekend. After the brief meeting President
Thompson updated chapter on all the activities TSPS is currently involved and
made it clear to all present that their dues were being used wisely and
effectively. Many of those present are old friends or coworkers of President
Thompson and the meeting had the feeling of a good family
reunion. The official meeting ended somewhere around 10PM but many stayed for
another hour or so and Big Daddy's was great for letting us stay (after hours).
After that the "unofficial meeting" moved to the parking lot where we solved all
of the world's problems and decided to go home about midnight. As you can
probably guess there was a lot of lively discussion that night. Chapter 10 continues working on the
"Survey Instrumentation" course planned for Symposium 2008. Bryan Adams, Marcus
Hostas and I have been working on the course and we are pleased with what we
have at this point. Chapter 10 will have elections in
September for President, VP and 2nd VP. Chapter 10 will be co hosting the
annual Seminar nag Golf August 10-11th in Ruidoso, NM this year. This is joint
effort with the Llano Estacado Chapter of NMPS and always has a good turnout of
TSPS members. We hope to have a meeting the last weekend of July but do not have a date set.
Respectfully submitted Craig Alderman President Chapter 10
ALAMO CHAPTER 11 Alamo Chapter 11 has had a board meeting each month of this quarter. We had a general membership meeting in May. In addition our fishing tournament committee has had 3 meetings preparing for our 3rd Annual Hook, Line and Surveyor fishing tournament to be held on July 27th and 28th in Rockport, Texas.
On May 17, 2007 we held a joint meeting with Capital Chapter 13 at the Gristmill in Gruene, Texas. James Noble Johnson was our guest speaker.
In June we had scheduled a joint meeting with the Bexar County chapter of TSPE. Unfortunately we had to cancel due to lack of participation. If we had not cancelled it would have cost our Chapter almost $750.00.
Our next general membership meeting will be at our 3rd annual Hook, Line and Surveyor fishing tournament has been set for July 28, 2007 at the Lighthouse Inn in Rockport, Texas. Our committee has been meeting to make sure that it is a success. Our preliminary calculations show that we will make between $4,000.00 and $5,000.00.
We also have published 3 more newsletters which may be viewed on our chapter website.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lemuel T Sinclair
COASTAL BEND CHAPTER 12 In our April meeting, we awarded the prize money and framed certificates to the Trig-Star first and second place students and teachers. Pat Smith, chairman of the TSPS Governmental Affairs Committee, was kind enough to attend the meeting and gave us an update on issues before the legislature. It was also noted that we had failed to receive any applications for the chapter’s scholarship program. Much more needs to be done.
In May, the Chapter voted to provide funds for 4 teachers to attend the Teacher’s Retreat at TAMUCC, while the GISSO group agreed to sponsor 2 more. It was also determined that we would plan to have a CEO seminar sometime in the fall to replenish the chapter bank account.
At the June meeting, Don Seals of Capnor USA gave us a demonstration of 3D Laser Scanning technology. Mike MacInnis and Bill Dove gave the chapter an update from the previous state quarterly meeting, and it was decided that we would be taking nominations for chapter officers at the July meeting.
Meeting attendance has been somewhat sparse this quarter, typical for the summer months.
Michael J. MacInnis RPLS President, Chapter 12 TSPS
CAPITAL AREA CHAPTER 13 Chapter 13’s Board members met the Second Wednesday of each month and has its General meetings the Third Thursday of each month.
The following events have taken place since the last Quarterly Board Meeting held in June, 2007:
Date: June 21, 2007 (Luncheon – Artz Rib House) Speaker: John Barnard Topic: Gave a presentation and pictures of his work performing topographic surveys in Iceland.
Date: July 19, 2007 (Luncheon – Cherry Creek Catfish Co.) Speaker: Terry Nygaard Topic: HARN control. Where to get the information from the LCRA Website and advantages.
Date: August 16, 2007 (To be announced) Speaker: Cliff Middleton Topic: His role at the NGS, how we can contact him and the information that can be obtained from his section.
Among other events that Chapter 13 has sponsored:
Para-professional Math Classes taught by Mike Ritter at the new ACC location and the funds are being directed toward SURPAC this year. A class is scheduled for August 18th for Intermediate Math at the time of this report.
Joe D. Webber, Jr. Chapter President
WEST CENTRAL TEXAS CHAPTER 18 Minutes for: Chapter 18 quarterly meeting
Guest Speakers: Bud Thompson (Current TSPS State level President)
Date: June 26, 2007 Venue: Spaghetti Warehouse Chairperson: Keith Raybuck Recordation of Minutes: Toby Coomer Present at Meeting: (19 attendees)
Guest Speaker Discussion:
Bud Thompson discussed getting our money’s worth out of TSPS as members. Asked that we give plenty of input as to the issues that concern us most in the surveying field.
Informed us that the S.I.T. was now renewable. Preliminary info. is that the S.I.T. will be valid for 8 years. and can be extended indefinitely if 8 C.E.U.’s are earned each year.
Informed us that the right to seek court ordered permission on landowners that deny access has been passed if it is proved that accessing that landowners monuments are in the publics best interest.
One of the hot topics was monumentation in subdivisions. A proposal of setting the monuments 1 yr. from the date construction commences has been discussed – potential problems are that the developer may renege on the contract and leave the surveyor to foot the bill. The surveyor could ask the developer to put a bond to cover the work after construction was complete, but that is a business decision and not something that the TBPLS would regulate. Any suggestions that surveyors might have would be appreciated. One surveyor said they state on the subdivision plats that monumentation will be put in after construction. The problem with this is that most cities inspect and verify that monuments are in place as part of the occupancy approval process. TBPLS had sent out recommended ordinance changes on how to proceed with this issue but it was confusing not only to the cities but even the surveyors. TSPS sent recommendations back to TBPLS but it seemed as if those recommendations were ignored for the most part.
It has been passed that survey companies are liable to produce past records if a complaint is filed against a particular surveyor employed by that company. In the past some companies have dismissed the surveyor in order to avoid having to reveal their past records and practices when this situation has come up. Now even if this scenario happens TBPLS can subpoena the company’s records.
In August, the first female TSPS state level president takes over.
Convention this year will be in Arlington sometime in October.
Chapter topics and discussions:
The “Teacher Camp Sponsor” program went really well this year. Two new films were created by one of the TSPS chapters and would be beneficial for everyone to see as these can be used in several educational environments to really publicize what surveyors do. Building a base of fresh new minds that might become part of the surveying industry should be a topic that is at the top of everyone’s priority list.
Action Items:
Schedule chapter executive meeting.
RIO GRANDE VALLEY CHAPTER 19
Rio
Grande Valley
Chapter 19
has no report.
Carlos Vasquez,
R.P.L.S. BRAZOS VALLEY CHAPTER 20 We are
planning a joint meeting with the Houston Chapter in Huntsville for August. We
have had no other activity in our chapter this quarter.
Sincerely, Curtis Strong
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