John: When I received my AAS Degree in drafting I was working in retail management. For the next 8 years I did not use that degree but worked my way up into upper management. One day the company I worked for shut down, I then found a job at an Engineering/Surveying company in their drafting department. I fell in love with surveying and worked my way up and eventually got my RPLS license.

TSPS: Why did you join TSPS?

John: I lived in Puerto Rico (PR) for 6 years where I returned to school and got my BS Degree in Surveying. During that time I was welcomed by the Surveyors on the Island and also by the College of Engineers and Surveyors (the local association). I became a member of the Institute of Surveying which was the policy Board within the College. After moving back to Texas to run my own business, I soon joined TSPS because I understood how important it is to be involved.

TSPS: What is your most memorable surveying moment?

John: In 1998 I was visiting my fiance in Puerto Rico where she lived. At the time the Soufriére Hills Volcano in Montserrat was erupting and the ash was falling on PR 300 miles away. I watched the news reports and commented to my 16 year old son how I would give anything to witness that in person. Two years later I got married and moved to PR. I was offered a job in the Geology Department at the University of Puerto Rico. The job was maintaining GPS sites around the Caribbean for use in tectonic studies and volcanic deformation studies. My first day of work I traveled to Montserrat. The second day I was dropped by helicopter, along with the rest of the team, on the side of the volcano to service the GPS sites. I stopped for a few seconds to look up at the active dome above me and remembered what I had told my son. I spent the next 2 years getting paid to travel around the Caribbean and worked on 7 active volcanoes.

John's Favorites:

Color: Blue
Food: Hatch green chilies (they go with anything)
Animal: Probably my dogs and the wildlife that passes through my rural yard.
Singer/Band/Group: The Moody Blues
Hobbies: Caving and rockhounding (but not together) and hiking

John is Chapter President of Chapter 17 - Paso Del Norte. 

By Dave Davlin

“To Kill A Mockingbird”, a novel written by Harper Lee, was published in 1960 and became a movie in 1962. The backdrop was a small town in Alabama during the Great Depression of the 1930’s when, as the movie states, "A day was twenty-four hours long but seemed longer. There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with.” Sound familiar?

Although there were many wonderful and memorable characters in the film including Atticus Finch, Scout, Jem, Dill and Tom Robinson, one character was never seen until the final scene of the movie. That character was Arthur Radley, better known to the townspeople as “Boo” Radley.

The ironic thing was that “Boo” only lived two houses down the street from Atticus and his two children, Jem and Scout. Even more peculiar was the fact that although none of the children had ever actually seen “Boo”, they all could tell you what he looked like. In the words of Jem, “He’s about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that's why his hands were bloodstained—if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off. There was a long, jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time."

Yes everyone, including the adults but especially the children, knew of Boo Radley and the horrible monster he was. Or, did they really?

If you saw the movie or read the book, you remember the surprise ending vividly. Jem and Scout are walking home alone after leaving the Fall Festival at the school. It’s a dark autumn night and the wind is blowing fervently through the trees along the wooded trail they are walking.

Out of the darkness, a large figure attacks the children so severely that it leaves Jem unconscious. Clouded by the ham costume she is wearing from her part in the school play, Scout’s vision is obscured but she can see the silhouette of a second figure as he wrestles with her attacker. As Scout adjusts the eyehole in her costume, she sees a figure carrying Jem down the street to their home.

As this ordeal is played out, based on the beliefs and accounts of the characters, the audience is convinced that this attack has been brought on by none other than ‘Boo” Radley. Yet ironically, in the very next scene which takes place in Jem’s room, the audience learns that “Boo” was not the attacker but in fact was the one who rescued the children from the attack.

As the movie ends, you hear the narration of an adult Jean Louise 'Scout' Finch as she says these words, “Neighbors bring food with death, and flowers with sickness, and little things in between. Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a knife, and our lives.”

As I think about the setting of and the characters in “To Kill a Mockingbird”, I cannot help but think about the similarities to the current situation our country faces surrounding the COVID-19 Pandemic. We are certainly not experiencing the depths of the Great Depression but somehow "A day was twenty-four hours long but seemed longer. There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with” seems to apply.

But even more, I think about the similarities to “Boo” Radley. As many of the townspeople had never seen the “Boo” they feared, we cannot see the virus we fear. And I wonder if we sometimes tell the story so often that, even if in our own minds, we make this monster bigger and worse than it really is.

Now, I am in no way downplaying the destruction and devastation this virus has caused. People have died, unemployment has skyrocketed, businesses have been destroyed, retirements accounts have been drastically reduced and the list goes on. This is real and it is devastating. But just like Jem and Scout, maybe our “Boo” has in some ways given at least part of our lives back to us. Even more, maybe it is the part we needed so much but did not realize we had lost.

Almost every night for the past six weeks, my wife and I have sat relaxing in lawn chairs at the edge of our driveway. I have never seen so many people walking with their families or riding bikes. I am speaking to neighbors I have not spoken to in years. Kids and teenagers who are typically glued to smartphones are running, biking and actually having non-technology conversations with their friends.

Instead of piling into cars and heading to the local eatery, families are sitting around kitchen tables, eating home-made meals and having meaningful conversations about life. Husbands and wives are spending quality time together and entire families are playing board games and watching movies. Children are playing under streetlights again and creating their own games, much like their grandparents did in the 1970’s. Balls are being bounced and thrown and skateboards are no longer covered with spider webs and dust.

Just like all seasons, the season of COVID-19 will pass and a new season will come. Scout knew this and expressed it in her final words.

“The summer that had begun so long ago had ended, and another summer had taken its place, and a fall, and Boo Radley had come out. I was to think of these days many times. Of Jem, and Dill, and Boo Radley, and Tom Robinson, and Atticus. He would be in Jem’s room all night, and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning.”

Do I miss parts of “life before Corona”? Sure, I do. And in time, we will get back to that. But for right now, I’m just happy to be on the Radley front porch … trying to find the good in “Boo” and remembering the part of life he returned to me, what he taught me and hoping not to forget when I wake up in the morning.

Dave Davlin is a professional speaker who resides in San Antonio, Texas. He received a degree in secondary education from Texas A&M University. He is a former halftime performer for NBA teams and in 1990 set a Guinness World record for simultaneously spinning twelve basketballs on his body at the same time. He now speaks to organizations nationwide on the subjects of life skills and increasing personal and organizational performance. Dave can be contacted by email at dave@davedavlin.com and by mail at 23242 Bison Canyon, San Antonio, Texas 78261. Follow Dave on Twitter @davedavlin.

By Shane Neally, SurPAC Co-Chairman

SurPAC is the political fundraising arm of TSPS and it provides the means for TSPS to create and maintain a presence in the legislative process by providing financial contributions to those legislators who have helped us in the past and those we feel will be needed for future assistance.

A Mule? A 2020 Kawasaki Mule SX 4x4 to be specific! Hopefully by now you have heard of the SurPAC Win this 2020 Kawasaki Mule SX 4x4 Sweepstakes.

I had high hopes of selling 500 sweepstakes tickets but with the pandemic and economy those hopes have dwindled some. We have currently sold 250 tickets, but we have roughly a month and half left before we draw a winner. That is more than enough time for you to get a ticket, or several, for your chance to win this awesome side by side. Someone is going to win an awesome UTV!

Now till the end of June you have a CHANCE to DOUBLE your tickets purchased during this time. Everyone that purchases a ticket from now till the end of June will be entered into the June Bonus Drawing. The winner will have their tickets matched, up to 5 tickets. So, get your sweepstakes tickets while they last.

TSPS Strategic Planning is Friday, July 31^st that is the time where we will sit down and prioritize our legislative issues and initiatives. Please attend Strategic Planning, if you cannot come in person you can sign up and attend virtually. You can also do the same for the TSPS Governmental Affairs committee meeting.

It is important to make contributions to SurPAC and be a part of the TSPS legislative process. All SurPAC donations must be paid with personal credit cards and not company credit cards.

Make your personal SurPAC donation today!

Stay safe and I hope to see you at Strategic Planning.

The information being communicated each day surrounding the coronavirus can be overwhelming. The increasing number of those infected, the number of deaths, shelter in place orders across the US, online classes for students, a vast majority now working from home, slow internet speeds, tips for staying healthy, creative ideas of things to do or make, the quarantine 15, etc. certainly makes for an unprecedented time in our lives.

The TSPS staff has been working remotely since mid-March. I have been working at one end of our dining room table as my husband works at the other end. My son is in his room on his iPad finishing his high school senior year classes. My daughter, having graduated from college, is also working at home before she heads off to law school in August.  With the four of us at home it has provided time to ask questions and share what we are doing each day. Last Friday, my daughter told me she was writing a brief on the stimulus package for her employer to share with clients. 

This got me thinking that I had been so focused on COVID-19 numbers, hot spot cities and “essential critical infrastructure industries” that I did not know much about the details of the stimulus package and thus read her brief. Many of you may already know the details but if not, I hope you will read the brief below.

H.R. 748, the CARES Act

Reprinted with permission by Lillian Olivia Kyle, Legislative Assistant, Texas Star Alliance

While the world has been reeling from the impact of the COVID-19 virus, Congress has been working to provide relief for those effected, and supply sorely needed stimulus for the American Economy. In an attempt to lessen the impact and provide a bit of relief to American workers and businesses, the Senate unanimously passed a massive $2 trillion stimulus package late Wednesday night (March 25). Its approval in the House, however, was far from certain as both parties argued over their vision for the format the stimulus should take. However, after much debate, the House approved the stimulus package today (Friday, March 27) making it the third measure passed by Congress in response to COVID-19 and the largest economic rescue package in U.S. history. President Donald J. Trump assured Americans earlier this week that if the bill was approved by Congress, he would gladly sign it.

The stimulus package is set to provide billions in credit for struggling industries, boost unemployment insurance, and provide direct cash payments to over 90% of American adults. According to the bill, American adults who made $75,000 or less in 2019 will receive checks for $1,200. Couples who filed jointly and made $150,000 or less will receive $2,400. An individual who filed as “head of household” and earned up to $112,500, will receive $1,200. Finally, for every child in a household, an additional $500 will be received.  However, there are limitations to the package. If someone makes more than $75,000, their payment will be reduced by $5 for every $100 of income that exceeds the limits. For example, if someone made $80,000 in 2019, they would receive $950. Individuals that make over $99,000 and couples that make over $198,000 will not receive any funds. The maximum payment a family of four will be eligible to receive is $3,400.

Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, said that checks will be sent out within three weeks to all of whom the IRS has information for. If someone has been working and paying taxes since 2018, there is no need to sign up or fill out a form to receive a check. Those who are on Social Security and don’t make enough to file a tax return will also be receiving a check. Unfortunately, college students who are still claimed as dependents on their parents’ taxes are ineligible.

In addition to these payments, the stimulus package will also provide roughly $100 billion in assistance for hospitals; $350 billion in assistance to small businesses; $500 billion in aid for corporations, including airlines and cruise lines hurt by the outbreak; and $150 billion for state and local stimulus funds. Unemployment insurance will also be boosted by the package for four months by increasing payments and extending the benefit to those who typically do not qualify. The bill is set to increase the maximum unemployment benefit that a state gives a person by $600 per week and ensure that laid-off workers, on average, will receive their full pay for four months. Any businesses controlled by President Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, members of Congress and heads of executive departments are prohibited from receiving any loans or investments from Treasury programs.

The stimulus package has several provisions set in place to help aid small businesses during this grueling time. Some small business concerns will be eligible for federal-guaranteed emergency “Paycheck Protection Program” (PPP) interest-bearing, non-recourse loans for business interruption due to COVID-19. This will allow borrowers to cover payroll costs of employees, making less than $100,000, and other working capital expenses not already covered by previous federal relief laws. Small businesses that are eligible for these loans will be covered from February 15th through June 30th. In addition, borrowers who demonstrate that loan proceeds were used for eligible purposes, including payroll/benefits, mortgage interest, rent and utilities, are eligible for loan forgiveness on the PPP loan total.

The stimulus package is the third emergency legislation that Congress has approved to combat the coronavirus outbreak. The other emergency legislation includes an $8.3 billion bill for health agencies and a roughly $100 billion bill aimed at providing free coronavirus testing, some paid leave and unemployment benefits, as well as additional Medicaid funding and food assistance.

View all TSPS COVID-19 updates and resources.

• Hugh L. George Memorial Award
• Surveyor of the Year Award
• Young Surveyor of the Year Award
• Vern Wayne Hanan Memorial Community Action Award
• Chapter President of the Year Award
• Geospatial Professional of the Year Award
• Educator of the Year Award
• Eminent Educator Award

The details and qualifications for each award are listed in the pages following the awards form. Please join us in this effort by nominating a candidate for an award. To make a nomination, complete and return by email, pages one and two of the attached Awards Nomination Form, no later than Friday, April 17th.

 Questions? Contact Nick Vann.

Jake: I got into surveying at a very young age. My father, Mark Lupher his father, Bill Lupher and my Great-Great Grandfather, A.B. Lupher were all Registered Professional Land Surveyors and Registered Engineers in Texas. All of my father's brothers, my brothers and a few of my cousins are all surveyors as well. At age 12, my Uncles Bob Lupher and Trigg Lupher asked me if I would like to help them by working on a survey field crew during my spring break. So began my surveying career, helping the crew carry equipment and holding the dumb end of a steel chain under a WILD T-2. Most of our work at that time was surveying unimproved, undeveloped “wooded” areas.

TSPS: Why did you join TSPS?

Jake: I was encouraged by my uncle Bob Lupher to join TSPS. He mentioned to me the value of TSPS in regard to educational opportunities and the ability to network and learn from other members in the profession. Bob later became an Officer and President of TSPS Chapter 9.

TSPS: What is your most memorable surveying moment?

Jake: I have had many great memories throughout my surveying career. I think about all of the schools I have worked on, boundary surveys, layout of a sun clock, subdivisions, golf courses, sports complexes, pipelines, chemical plants, terminals, surveys for celebrity sports figures and team owners and so much more. I did a couple of surveys for the FAA to identify satellite obstructions on the horizon. Once we did an ALTA survey on an old quarter mile drag strip. We had two crews working out of two late 1970’s loaded down suburbans, and yes, there were multiple drag competitions on the drag strip prior to completing the job (but only after our work for the day was complete)! 

Jake's Favorites:

Color: Green
Food: Tie between Texas BBQ and Seafood 
Animal: American Bald Eagle
Singer/Band/Group: Old country music, the Texas music scene, classic rock and southern rock, but I enjoy all genres
Hobbies: I enjoy playing guitar, hunting and fishing, photographing nature, woodworking and home remodel/renovation projects and competition BBQ cook-offs

Jake is chair of the SIT/RPLS Study Group Sub-Committee to Education. 

Recently, Klein ISD released a promotional video for their Geomatics Program. This video contained a compilation of interviews that took place over the course of several events including: Job Shadow, Geomatics Presentation at Klein Collins High School and a TSPS Chapter 9 - Gulf Coast luncheon that was hosted by Klein Collins High School. These events took place to spread awareness of Klein Collins High School's new Geospatial Engineering and Land Surveying Program to its curriculum.

Portions of the video were taken at the Klein Collins High School annual Job Shadow event, where they sent many of their students to learn about different industries for the day. For the second year in a row, I had the opportunity to host 4-8 students at my company for the day. Our activities included:  

• Introductions followed by a hour and a half session where we run through and have each student pair up with our drafting and survey tech team to begin researching the property Appraisal District report and the deed and\or plat of where each student resides. (Please Keep in mind that these students all have taken AutoCAD and Revit classes their Freshman year). The students then create an 11x17 plat of their own homes utilizing Civil3D software. We have them plot Boundary/Plat lines, Easements and ownership for the subject tract and the adjacent tracts utilizing our layering and CAD standards. Once this task is complete, they now have an unofficial Deed Sketch of their homes where they later can show their parents.
• We then broke into groups for a 30 minute drone demonstration.
• During lunch, we showed a PowerPoint presentation on Geospatial Engineering Program details and the Colleges and Universities that offer Geomatics in the State of Texas.
• The next hour was used to begin hands on training on field equipment through fun competitions.
• They begin with a pacing exercise and proceed to the first pacing competition.
• Students are shown how to setup a tripod, tribrach and prism in about 10 minutes. Then we began competitions to see who could setup the fastest.
• Then they are shown how to sight a back sight and turn to a foresight and then began a competition on turning sets of angles.
• We complete the field competitions with a demo of our Network GPS RTK by locating features of the complex and Electronic Toning of utilities that feed the complex.
• The last hour was spent with a Laser Scanning demonstration where we allowed each student to physically operate the scanner.

We have always received positive feedback from the students who participate in the Job Shadow event. Not only is this day a great opportunity for us to show the students a brief synopsis of what we do on a daily basis, but it is a huge moral builder for our employees as they truly have as much fun teaching the students as the students have learning from them.

The promotional video also shows snapshots from the Geomatics Presentation day. Over the course of the last few years we have developed a strong relationship with several of the Engineering Pathway teachers at Klein Collins and are invited out several times throughout the school year to give a Geomatics demonstrations. We take this opportunity to talk about our industry and share some of the technology that we use both in the field and in the office. This generation of students are heavily technology driven and we are able to peak their interest by showing them a few of the tools that we use, such as, the laser scanners, drones, data collectors and other software. After our presentation, we open to floor to any questions. Usually the students will flood us with questions regarding internships, career opportunities, pay and also what other types of technology we utilize in our field. 

The third content used in the video was taken during a TSPS Chapter 9 - Gulf Coast luncheon which Klein Collins High School hosted for us. This was a great opportunity for the school district staff and students to meet members of TSPS. We took this opportunity to showcase some of our local industry leaders and give them a chance to visit with staff, counselors, teachers, and students currently enrolled in the Geospatial Engineering Program.

Klein Collins students who are enrolled in the program will be attending the upcoming TSPS Symposium in College Station. In addition to assisting TSPS, they will have the opportunity to meet with members, sit in on classes and also meet with Dr. Stacey Lyle and get an inside look at the Texas A&M program. These types of interactions will continue to build momentum from a marketing standpoint as the goal is to catch these students attention and show them what we do, with hopes that they themselves will spread the news of the program to their peers.

Overall, the Program at Klein Collins is now in its second year and is showing good signs of growth. The program began with 4 students last year and today has 17 students enrolled in the GIS course. The current semester has kicked off and this will be the first semester with industry instruction which will begin with a GIS component. Next Fall, the Geomatics component kicks off and we look forward to having several industry leaders pitching in to help make this program a huge success.

A few months ago, we were able to collectively submit a request for TEA to approve our industry for State Course Content, and a few weeks ago we received official notification that we were accepted and approved for our region. This allows funding to begin for any district within our region for the Geospatial Engineering and Land Surveying Pathway. Klein ISD and Klein Collins High School have been an amazing partner to our Industry and will lean on each other heavily over the next few years as we continue to build and grow this program. Failure is not an option as the vision is to build a solid model that can be copied and implemented across the state and even on a national level. 

Jason: I got into surveying at the age of 22 when I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do as a career. I immediately thought back to when I was in high school and would visit my Godfather and Uncle in California and assist them with surveying in the summer months. I remembered thinking how much fun it was, how successful they were, and how it came so naturally to me – fit like the closing call on square description.

TSPS: Why did you join TSPS?

Jason: At the time, I was working at Maverick Land Surveying, and the owner, Dan Snell recommended I join TSPS to learn more about the community of surveyors, and what we can do for our profession. Plus, I found out that I could receive college scholarships and went on to pursue my RPLS license.

TSPS: What is your most memorable surveying moment?

Jason: After doing this for over 20 years, I would say when I had the opportunity to research and physically retrace multiple Survey/Abstracts around Medina Lake from 2013-2015 when the lake almost completely dried up. It was like walking through history following along old fence lines (posts) that had not been surfaced since the dam was built in 1917 and the tracts completely inundated just a few years after.

Jason's Favorites:

Color: Same as the flagging on our corners, Orange
Food: Beef, in any form - from Brisket to Ribeye, and even Jerky
Animal: Bear
Singer/Band/Group: Depends on my mood: Texas - Robert Earl Keen; Rock - Led Zeppelin; Hip Hop - Beastie Boys
Hobbies: Traveling, fishing, outdoor activities

Jason is currently TSPS Chapter 11 - Alamo President. 

Nathan: When I was 20 years old, I went to work for Technip/Coflexip Gulf Marine Fabricators in Ingleside, TX as a dimensional control technician. I had no experience or knowledge of surveying, so I decided to take night classes at Del Mar College. I changed my major from pre-med to surveying after I discovered a Bachelor Degree curriculum at TAMU-CC. I changed my focus to Land Surveying, eventually earning a Master’s degree at TAMUCC. Land Surveying was an easy fit, it matched my interests and hobbies and I never get bored!

TSPS: Why did you join TSPS?

Nathan: I joined TSPS to make a positive impact in our industry and profession. I believe as a team, we can accomplish our educational and legislative goals, while promoting public awareness. At times it seems our profession is one generation away from extinction, so I want to help keep my Chapter 12 and all of TSPS motivated and goal-oriented to achieve our larger goals, and prosper.   

TSPS: What is your most memorable surveying moment?

Nathan: I have had the privilege of working with a lot of great guys, and have been on some very interesting surveys, so I have many memorable moments. I worked on a large survey on the back side Port Aransas with Darrell Shine, Nedra Foster, Bill O’Hara, Allen Walzel, and two special guests, Boots and Britches (they were alligators). On my journey to get licensed to survey in the State of Texas, it took much time, money, effort, and sacrifice, with a mortgage due and 2 little ones; so, I would have to say that getting my license to survey is my most memorable surveying moment.

Nathan's Favorites:

Color: Blue
Food: BBQ
Animal: Dog
Singer/Band/Group: Willie Nelson
Hobbies: Camping

Nathan is currently TSPS Chapter 12 - Coastal Bend President. 

MEMBERS - RENEW TODAY!

Follow these easy step-by-step instructions to renew your TSPS membership:

1. Login to the TSPS website and click on Manage Profile. If you have forgotten your username or need to reset your password, please call the TSPS office at 512-327-7871.

2. Under Your Profile in the top right hand corner, click the down arrow and click on Invoices.

3. The Payments & History tab will be highlighted.

4. Click on the Membership tab.

5. Check the Dues Invoice box on the left, then click on Pay Selected Invoices to input your credit card information.

And you are done!

NON-MEMBERS JOIN TODAY!

Active participation in TSPS can pay you untold personal and professional dividends - depending on what you do with your membership.

If you're still wondering, "What's In It For Me?", take a look at some of the benefits of TSPS membership:

• Master the surveying profession through TSPS's education program
• Attend the TSPS Annual Convention & Tech Expo to network and earn CEUs
• Stay informed of TSPS and industry happenings with Texas Surveyor Magazine as well as the Metes & Bounds e-newsletter
• Establish professional contacts
• Receive significant discounts on CEU and paraprofessional training with your TSPS membership
• Have representation before the state legislature
  
• Get involved in TSPS activities to advance your career
• Earn recognition from your peers through our volunteer opportunities and awards programs
• Prove your professionalism with a Survey Technician Certification
• Contribute to your profession by developing leadership skills
• Receive personalized, professional attention from TSPS staff
• Take advantage of insurance benefits for you and your company
• Wear your pride on your sleeve - shop the TSPS Logo Store
• And much, much more!

Remember, there's a place for you at TSPS. Grow your personal career and empower the land surveying profession in Texas by joining today!

JOIN TSPS

Download the member application, mail to:

TSPS, Attn: Membership, 2525 Wallingwood Drive Bldg. 3 Ste 300, Austin TX 78746

Pick up a copy of Texas Surveyor, attend a TSPS event, or just get a few surveyors together in the same room, and chances are you will come across a common topic: the need for more young surveyors! This is a complex problem that our profession must attack from multiple directions if it is ever to be solved. Mentoring is one area I believe is vital to the health and continuation of our profession. As Heather Sides asked in her article “Active Mentoring” in the May 2016 Texas Surveyor, isn’t it our responsibility to pass our knowledge, experiences, struggles, and rejoices to those who are coming behind us?


To the veteran surveyor: Can you recall that old-timer who first piqued your interest in surveying? The one who encouraged you to stick with it when you became discouraged? That person that you bounce ideas off of when you run into a challenging project? What have you done lately to become that person to a young surveyor? Could you take a young surveyor to a local Chapter meeting, a TSPS Board Meeting, or to Symposium or Convention and introduce them to your colleagues? Maybe invest in TSFI, volunteer for Trig*Star or SkillsUSA, or sponsor books/equipment at a college land survey program? Mentoring could be as simple as reaching out to someone you know that is studying for the SIT or RPLS exam and asking if you can help them prepare.

I think sometimes we have the wrong idea about training. I’ve heard some discussion lately about the importance of sending employees to seminars. Why wouldn’t it be a better solution to take employees to seminars? Not only would we be making an investment into their future, we could help open doors for them to build their own network. There are some who would respond to this idea by saying, “I’m training my own competition!” Well, what’s a greater risk for you: competent competition or incompetent employees? As one of my favorite quotes says: “What’s worse than training our people and having them leave? Not training them and having them stay!”

To the young surveyor: Wouldn’t it be great to have someone inspire you? Someone to give you guidance as you find your footing in the profession? Someone to be a trusted advisor along your journey? What have you done lately to find an older surveyor to be that person? Do you attend your local Chapter meetings or State level board meetings? Are you involved in committee work either at the Chapter or State level? Do you attend the Symposiums, Conventions, and/or other TSPS sponsored events? When you attend these events do you reach out and introduce yourself to older surveyors? Are you working to build networks with your peers?

It’s up to all of us to pull together to strengthen and grow our profession. Our profession (and TSPS) can only become what we make of it. Just as a business owner should be worried if they don’t have a Business Transition Plan, we need to be worried about our Profession Transition Plan. Albert Einstein said, “Those who have the privilege to know have the duty to act, and in that action are the seeds of new knowledge.” No matter where we are in our journey, we have the duty to become a mentor. 

Connor G. Brown is a Project Manager at E.L.S. Surveying & Mapping in Tyler and currently serves as the TSPS Chapter 4 Vice President and the TSPS State Level Chapter Activities Chair.

Eric: Like a number of us, my introduction to land surveying was accidental. The summer I turned 16 (1996), I found that I had been “volunteered” by my father for my first “real” summer job. I grew up in a small town which was home to the owner a large civil engineering firm. Over the years the firm gave several of us 'small town kids' our first introduction to both land surveying and the workforce. I was hooked from the first summer and worked summer breaks, spring breaks and Christmas holidays for the rest of high school ultimately converting to a full-time employee when I graduated.

TSPS: Why did you join TSPS?

Eric: I joined TSPS because my employer was sponsoring my membership, I also joined to network. However, over time my approach and overall view of TSPS changed. TSPS and others like it, help to preserve our profession’s role in society at large. It was clear over the past year in dealings with our elected officials, that very few of those officials truly understand what professional land surveying is or why it matters. I believe that the vast majority of TSPS members and professionals act as passionate advocates for the profession. However, many voices acting independently tend to get drowned out by more unified groups. TSPS  represents our best avenue to speak with one voice and to be as loud as necessary. We need an effective unified voice to keep the public educated about the service and protection that we provide. Recognizing that desperate need for an effective unified voice has driven my renewed level of interest in TSPS.   

TSPS: What is your most memorable surveying moment?

Eric: My most memorable surveying moment will always be associated with birth of my son. He was born late on a Sunday. We were able to bring him home from the hospital Tuesday evening. I headed to Austin Wednesday afternoon and sat for the RPLS exam on Thursday morning. While the timeline of that week tends to run together, I will never forget either life altering event.

Eric's Favorites:

Color: Yellow
Food: All things Mexican or Greek
Animal: Roadrunner
Singer/Band/Group: Varies from time to time, however listening to a lot of Jason Boland and the Stragglers currently
Hobbies: Playing music

Eric is a newly elected TSPS Director and currently a TSPS Chapter 2 - North Central Texas member. 

Pictured L-R:

John Barnard - Past President, Steven Freeman - Secretary/Treasurer, Heather Sides - Vice President,
Bill O'Hara - President Elect, Trisha Lund - President, Connor Brown - Director,
Josh Leamons - Director, Joe Breaux - Director, Travis Tabor - Director, Stan Piper - Director, Anna Rios - Director, Kenneth Yazel - Director

Not pictured:

Eric Baze - Director, Robby Christopher - Director, John DeHan - Director, Chris Freeman - Director, Bill Swope - Director

1. What is the biggest problem with the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83)?
2.  What organization is responsible for the development of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF)?
3. Which geodetic measurement systems are used to compute ITRF solutions?
4. What is the approximate percentage of currently published 1^st and 2^nd - Order North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88) bench marks will NGS likely use in the definition of the new vertical reference frame?
5. What are the names of the new reference systems that NGS has adopted?
6. How large are the expected horizontal position and orthometric height changes expected to be across the state of Texas?

Every surveyor in who relies on the use of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) data in the course of their work should be able to answer these questions right off the top of their head. If you can’t, you better start getting up to speed. If everything goes as planned you only have about 3 years before NGS will pull the lever and replace both NAD 83 and NAVD 88.

The transitions from the North American Datum of 1927 (NAD 27) to NAD 83 in 1986 and the National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 (NGVD 29) to NAVD 88 in 1991 had, in general a significant impact on only a modest number of federal, state, county/municipal and private surveying, mapping and charting agencies and companies.  It will be radically different this time. Owing to the widespread use of GNSS and Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies, communities across the country and large numbers of other disciplines will be significantly impacted by these positional changes. They will be depending on professional surveyors to guide them in the adoption of these new datums and management of their legacy data.

So can you answer the posed questions? If you can, then you are likely well prepared to meet the challenges that are coming. If not, then you should take all the classes you can to be informed on the subject.  Start off by getting acquainted with NGSs’ New Datums web site - https://www.ngs.noaa.gov/datums/newdatums/index.shtml - and sign up for their e-mail notification service. Make sure that TSPS conferences feature speakers explaining the rational for these changes, how you can predict the changes coming to your community, and strategies for implementation of those changes. 

It needs to be noted that NGS will also be changing the design of all of the State Plane Coordinate zones and has posted zone design maps to their web site - https://www.ngs.noaa.gov/SPCS/download.shtml. In addition the agency has made a decision that all future SPC coordinates will be defined in meters and what has commonly been referred to as International Feet. Values in U.S. Survey Feet will no longer be published. The agency will also likely publish new false northing and/or easting values so NATRF SPCs will not be confused with NAD 83 values.

Now as for the answers to the six questions – take some time to see what you can find online.

____________________________________________________________

Briefly stated the answers are:

ANSWERS

1. The major issue with NAD 83 is that the origin of coordinates defined as earth-mass center in 1986 is biased to the best contemporary knowledge of earth geocenter by approximately 1.5 m (5 ft) for the conterminous United States. This can be seen by comparing the X,Y,Z Earth-Centered Earth-Fixed NAD 83 vs. ITRF coordinates for any Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) – for example Austin RRP2 (TXDoT) equals 1.634 m (5.36 ft)
2.  The International Earth Rotation and Reference System Service (IERS) headquartered in Paris, France is responsible for the computation of the ITRF, the most current being ITRF14 which NGS has already adopted for all CORS – https/www.iers.org
3. The IERS uses data from four different geodetic measurement services to compute the ITRF – GNSS, Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) and Doppler Orbitography and Radio Positioning Integrated by Satellite (DORIS):

• GNSS – www.igs.org
•  VLBI – https://ivscc.gsfc.nasa.gov
• SLR – https://ilrs.cddis.eosdis.nasa.gov
• DORIS – https://ids-doris.org

4. Sort of a trick question – no bench marks will be used in the defining the new vertical datum, it will based exclusively on a combination of space-based, aircraft

    and terrestrial high accuracy gravity observations.

5. The North American Terrestrial Reference Frame of 2022 (NATRF2022) will replace NAD 83 for the conterminous U.S. and Alaska, and the North American-

    Pacific Geopotential Datum of 2022 (NAPGD2022) will replace NAVD 88 and all of the various state and territory island vertical datums. There will also be

    separate horizontal/geometric systems for the Caribbean, Pacific and Marianas areas to replace NAD 83.

6. While the horizontal and vertical differences will vary across the state of Texas, in general the differences in horizontal position, and orthometric heights will be in

    the range of 1.12 m (3.7 ft) to 1.32 m (4.3 ft) and - 0.02  m (0.1 ft) to -.37 m (-1.2) respectively.  Computing the approximate 3-d positional changes for anywhere

    in the country can be performed using the annual NGS xGEOID beta models – currently xGEOID18 -- https://beta.ngs.noaa.gov/GEOID/xGEOID18/

By Bill Beardslee PLS, PE, PP

All of the licensed surveyors who will be attending the TSPS Conference at the Horseshoe Bay Resort this October are skilled in their craft. From the small firm doing primarily boundary and topographic projects to the national firms dealing with high-tech applications of scanning, Lidar and satellite imagery, all the surveyors are very skilled. They all truly can “Walk the Walk.”

But in each instance, do they have the interpersonal skills to “Talk the Talk?”

Usually the situation is that the talkers aren’t walkers. But with these skilled professionals, it is quite the opposite. Before anyone gets insulted because they feel they can “talk the talk”, understand this item: 80 percent of the complaints to state boards about surveyors are on business practices – people who don’t “talk the talk.”  The three main complaints are:

I can’t get in contact with the surveyor. They won’t call back.

They didn’t get the survey done on time.

They didn’t charge me what they quoted.

So here I come on my white horse to help everyone with the interpersonal skill touch-up they may need. (The horse’s back sags badly)

I have the honor of being asked to present four seminars at the conference. The first, and my favorite, is “Client Communication – The Lifeblood of Business”. We will discuss relationships and interpersonal skills emphasizing listening. One of the lengthy sections will be on the pre-proposal meeting – a surefire way to avoid arguments, misunderstandings and litigation. Knowing which of your many communication tools to use at which time is also a focus item.

Once you are firmly comfortable with your communication skills, we will talk about how to efficiently use them in “Managing Your Projects and Your Company”. The one constant issue for skilled surveyors is that they are put in charge of a project or a department or start a small company with LITTLE or NO management training. Thus they initially flounder until, by trial, error, and osmosis, they find a way to become efficient managers. This course should eliminate some of the initial issues and give the attendee some basic guidance to start their ship on the right course.

But management, and becoming a great manager, should never confused with leadership. Those are two very different skills. I’m sure each of you know people in leadership positions who are not good leaders. (Elected officials come to mind). A manager has a skill – a leader has a vision. “Leadership – From Party Chief to CEO” will differentiate these two paths and will offer some suggestions to increase your leadership skills. Even those folks who are said to be “born leaders” need to refine their talents and adjust to new situations.

Now that you know everything one could ever use to run a successful, profitable firm, one question sits on the horizon – how will you know “When it’s Time To Go?”  This course deals with the inevitable concept that one day you will retire as an owner or department head, or some other influential position. Getting ready for that occurrence is not a short term process.

Preparing to sell a business, or buy one for the younger surveyors, is a well planned path that leads to long term security for your family and the buyer. The key is to start early. I receive too many calls every year from surveyors asking “what is my business worth as I want to sell.” The problem usually is that they are 75-80 years old which, except for a “fire sale”, puts them in a poor position.

So please stop in to any, or all, of these seminars. They are all interactive as the attendees always have interesting input for their peers to hear. 

Let’s all leave Horseshoe Bay being able to proudly “Talk the Talk!”

Nick: The saying “You don’t pick surveying, surveying picks you” couldn’t be more true in my situation. My parents own a surveying firm so I grew up in the surveying industry. I went to Texas A&M with the intentions of going to either Vet School or Med School and by the time I was in my junior year of college, I decided 6-8 more years of school was definitely not what I wanted to do. Having spent my summers and holiday breaks working as a rod-technician at my parents company, I had decided I did not want to be a surveyor. I graduated during the down turn in the economy but was fortunate enough to be able to work at my parents company until I figured out what I wanted to do. During that time I discovered that surveying really wasn’t so bad. I had always enjoyed geometry in school and loved the outdoor daily-changing atmosphere. Almost 5 years later I was sitting for my RPLS exam and the rest is history. 

TSPS: Why did you join TSPS?

Nick: I joined TSPS looking to build community and give back to my profession.

TSPS: What is your most memorable surveying moment?

Nick: My favorite surveying memory was getting to honor my mentor Glenn Fisher with a final point ceremony. Glenn was as equally aggravating as he was hilarious, but I learned so much from him and it was evident that he always found joy in torturing/training young surveyors.

Nick's Favorites:

Color: Maroon (Gig ‘em)
Food: Pizza
Animal: Lion
Singer/Band/Group: My wife
Hobbies: I don't have a hobby, I have kids

Nick is currently a TSPS Chapter 9 - Gulf Coast member. 

I was twenty-one, divorced, with a 6 month old son and working part time in catering. I knew I needed to make some major changes in my life so I went to the local college and took an aptitude test. It showed my strengths and interests to be in either architecture or surveying. I could not imagine sitting at a drafting table all day, so I choose surveying. It seems to follow the tendency of my family with my dad, grandfather, and brother being bricklayers and uncles in concrete and carpentry industry.

With being only a few years out of high school the first few days of college were trying to say the least, but thankfully I had a wonderful instructor. On the first day of the program he warned all the male students in class to not underestimate the ladies in the class, that we might just outperform them all. It turned out to be true, I even won the outstanding student in the program award upon graduation.

During my education, I knew I would need some experience in the field to give me a chance to get a job once I was through with my schooling. I went through the Green Bay phone book and contacted all the surveying companies listed, and offered my services for free. No one took me up on the offer, so I had to drive 65 miles each way to work where I was compensated only $5.95 an hour. Upon graduation, the experience from this job is what gave me the edge and confidence I needed for my first full time job at the Brown County Surveyor's office in Green Bay.

The Brown County Surveyor's office was very progressive on PLSS maintenance and creating a foundation for all land boundaries through GIS. Because of their progressiveness we purchased Real Time GPS in 1994. I was the new kid on the block and the only one with any type of data collection experience, so I was the one who was tasked with learning the new equipment (yes handwritten field notes was our only form of data collection prior to GPS). I had several different training classes and within a year I was speaking in front of 350 people at our state convention about GPS, what we were using it for, and the accuracy data we were obtaining from it.

 After 5 years at Brown County, I decided to accept the marriage proposal of my boss and we felt it would be best if we were not working in the same office. I went to another county for a short time before he talked me into starting our own business in 2000. Once on my own, I went to Sunnyvale California for 2 weeks to become a Certified Trimble GPS trainer. I taught classes for a few years while also doing boundary surveys. As our business grew, my husband Les retired after 28 years as the County Surveyor to work with me full time.

Les & I have always felt that as a professional you need to give back to your chosen field. Over the years, I served as our chapter Secretary, on Committees, on Foundations, and then served as the Wisconsin Society of Land Surveyors President in 2007. In 2010, I became the then NSPS Governor for Wisconsin for 6 years. I later ran for NSPS office, and here I am. I feel giving back to your profession is a one of the most rewarding things you can do and I have never regretted any of the time I have spent on this endeavor.

I am excited to see the outcome for the first TSPS Women Surveyors Summit and commend Texas land surveyors on being a leader in the promotion of our exciting profession.

Aaron: I had a friend working as a survey tech for an Engineering and Land Surveying Firm in North Texas.  She called saying they were looking to hire an entry-level survey tech.  My desire to learn the profession landed me the job and as they say, the rest is history.

TSPS: Why did you join TSPS?

Aaron: I joined for the continuing education opportunities and the social aspect of surveying.  I like to get to know other surveyors because you never know when you may have to reach out to them or they may need to reach out to you.  I typically attend the Symposium, Convention, and several chapter events throughout the year and enjoy each of them.

TSPS: What is your most memorable surveying moment?

Aaron: The morning of May 13^th, 2016.  Waiting through the morning for the RPLS Exam results to be posted felt like an eternity.  Seeing my name listed on the website after refreshing countless times is something I won’t forget.

Aaron's Favorites:

Color: Maroon (Gig ‘em)
Food: Crawfish
Animal: Redfish (Catching them)
Singer/Band/Group: Texas Country
Hobbies: Kayak Fishing

Aaron is currently a TSPS Chapter 9 - Gulf Coast member and speaker at Symposium. 

I initially was referred to a Troop 1171 Scout Leader by Chapter 5 member Stephanie Beckham. She knew the Leader, and the Troop had utilized her property in Limestone County several times for camping and other Scout activities. I arranged to attend a Troop meeting in January to discuss Surveying, demonstrate the use of survey instruments, discuss career opportunities, and offer to assist in a Survey Merit Badge activity if there was interest. By the end of the meeting, 20 Scouts signed up for the Survey Merit Badge.

The exercise was scheduled for mid February. The Scouts arrived on Friday night and set up camp. Two main exercises were to be completed: 1.) a closed traverse in which the Scouts measure the sides and interior angles of a polygon, and 2.) a closed level loop assuming an elevation of one of the aforementioned traverse points.

The exercise commenced at approximately 10:00 a.m. under relatively calm but cold and cloudy conditions, with intermittent light mist. I met the 20 Scouts and 4 adult leaders on site, a clearing surrounded by timber and thick underbrush. The group was divided into 4 survey teams. Instructions were given on field book note keeping, setting up the instruments, turning and recording angles, performing rodman duties with the prism poles for measuring the backsight and foresight distances or holding the level rod during the bench loop. The team utilized a Topcon GTS-226 electronic Total Station and a Sokkia C3i Differential Level.

For the traverse exercise, the teams each turned an interior angle and measured two legs of the polygon from their observation station. A compass reading was taken at the first setup to provide a Basis of Bearing. After moving up to the next station, the new team checked the distance recorded in the field books (donated by long-time TSPS partner Geomatic Resources) by the previous team to ensure no blunder had been recorded. When a team was not actively involved with the measuring at a particular station, they observed the working team, recorded results, and entered sketches in their notes. 

At one point during the chilly morning, firewood was gathered and a fire started, bringing welcome heat to the survey teams. The closed traverse was completed with a Linear Error of Closure of 0.03 feet. The perimeter distance measured was 611.92 feet. The precision for the survey was 1/20,000, a decent survey for first-time surveyors. The area measured was 22,293 square feet.

Upon completion of the traverse exercise, the teams switched gears to run a closed bench loop. After a quick lesson on how to set up the instrument, focusing, reading the rod, and keeping level notes, the teams were ready to go.  Assuming an elevation of 100.00 at Point #1, the teams took turns reading the level rod backsight and foresight readings, and recorded the observations in their field books. Some teams had other team members check the rod reading before finalizing their reading. The teams turned on each of the points, returning to the starting station at Point #1. After a quick tally with the calculator, the results showed that the loop closed flat with the original starting elevation. How about that?! Looks like we may have some future survey talent out here! The Scouts were smart and inquisitive, as well as quick learners.

How did you get into surveying?: In my second semester of college at Texas A&M, at age 18 I was talking with my mother about what I wanted to do with my life. She asked me some very practical questions like: “Do you want to work indoors or outdoors?” both, I said. She asked, “Do you like Math or English better?” again, I answered both. Out of the blue, she suggested surveying and told me a little about it. I thought it sounded interesting so enrolled in the Civil Engineering Plane Surveying class. Three times a week this class was held indoors and once a week outdoors on the campus golf course. Are you kidding? This could be a job? I loved it! Next, I enrolled in the co-op program, which allowed students to alternate working a semester and going to school a semester. In the spring of 1977, I began working in the field as a tail “chainman” in the swamps of Conroe, Texas.

The Importance of Women in Surveying: I think many women don’t give the surveying profession a chance because it is a male dominated field. The more women join the surveying workforce, the more we will see these barriers eliminated, thereby boosting the pool of qualified female workers. We should never settle for just half the population being given opportunities to succeed in the profession that best matches their abilities and personality type.

In 1977, when I was taking the Civil Engineering Plan Surveying class and started out in the field, it is hard to even imagine what it would have been like to actually have had a female role model or mentor. Several years later, I finally met other women in surveying. I had to fight to use the shovel, the chain saw, the machete, even the metal detector because most men wouldn't let me near these tools! I was always the first out of the truck, and I had the educational framework and passion for my chosen profession. I like to believe that today’s women in surveying are out there following in the footsteps of the original surveyors and not having to fight to do so. 

Mark: I graduated from ITT in the spring of 1993. I was going to be a drafter for my Dad’s architecture business, but it was slow at the time, so he introduced me to Mr. Roy Smith of Roy Smith Surveyors. Roy was looking for someone who knew how to work well with computers. I began my career at Roy’s and moved onto Bury+Partners (Bury+Pittman) in 1996. I was under the tutelage of John Bilnoski, who took the time to introduce me to the finer points of boundary analysis. I enjoyed the interaction between the people I encountered when tackling work projects, from there the rest is history. 

TSPS: Why did you join TSPS?

Mark: I joined TSPS to have the opportunity to give back to the Surveying community by serving as a first year director for my local chapter, Chapter 13 – Capital Area. I wanted the opportunity to network with local Surveyors I had heard about while I was gaining experience as a survey tech. It’s difficult to describe being able to have conversations with Ken Gold, Bill O’Hara, David Klotz, John Barnard and some of the people who I have admired, survey luminaries if you will. There are many others, as well, too many to list, but suffice it to say, every time I show up at a TSPS function it’s like being backstage at a rock concert!

TSPS: What is your most memorable surveying moment?

Mark: Honestly, I have a memorable survey moment every time I analyze data, create calc points, and I get a call back from the field crew stating that they recovered a monument within 0.03’ from my calc. Bingo! 

Mark's Favorites:

Color: Purple and Black
Food: Three cheese enchiladas with rice and beans
Animal: My wife and I have a lab mix and two cats. Thankfully, we all get along!
Singer/Band/Group: Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan
Hobbies: Music and Golf, although I can't remember the last time I was on a golf course. I need to fix that!

Mark is currently a TSPS Chapter 13 - Capital Area member. 

I was reading a photography magazine the other day, and I came across an article that was discussing strengthening a photography business.  I thought, “this pretty much applies to any business, but especially to our business.”  While I am stealing some of the following from that article, I don’t feel particularly bad about it since they listed Psychology Today as their source.  So, I am actually stealing this from Psychology Today.  The article was about dealing with an upset client. I don’t know why we surveyors have clients that would get upset with us; after all, every surveyor is a paragon of virtue. But, nonetheless, we have all had upset clients. If you haven’t … just wait … you will. The client might even be someone within your own company. 

If you are like most of us, you will take the position of having to “deal with” an upset client. But, according to the article, the “dealing with” attitude is one that you will need to let go. “Dealing with” an issue is a quick fix so that it will go away. Unfortunately, the client is likely to go away also. In some cases that is a good thing, but it can also be a negative. When something goes wrong, you should repair your relationship with the client. Empathize with the client instead of getting defensive or making excuses. As my mom used to tell me, “Excuses are like belly buttons - everybody has one.” Those of you that knew my mom are sure to know that she didn’t really say “belly buttons”. The article went on to list the following four goals:

 LISTEN

• Don’t talk over or interrupt
• Give your complete attention
• Do not be distracted by thinking of what you want to say next
• Let them say everything they need to say
• Don’t jump in and try to “correct” their perception

UNDERSTAND

• It’s not about you, it’s about them
• See things from your client’s perspective
• Focus on how the situation made your client feel
• Let them know you understand their perspective (even if you don’t agree) and repeat their concerns back to them

EMPATHIZE

• Show you understand how they feel
• Let them know you get it
• Affirm that their upset feelings are reasonable (even if they aren’t).  (“I totally understand why you are upset. I would be, too. It was insensitive/careless/thoughtless/unprofessional.”)

APOLOGIZE

• Strive to make the other person feel better, relieving them of the emotional burden of their distress
• Offer a clear “I’m sorry” statement
• Express how much you regret what happened
• Empathize and acknowledge the impact of your actions on them

I realize that these suggestions are not valid for all instances or clients. It is a lot better for your business for YOU to decide to lose a client than to have the client decide to leave because they are unhappy with your handling of a situation. Studies show that when we have a good experience with a company, we tend to tell three other people about it. Positive word-of-mouth is great for business. However, those same studies show that someone who is displeased with a situation tells, on average, eleven people about it.

Again, I cannot think of a situation where it is better for the client to fire you than for you to fire the client. And, should you decide to fire the client, the article suggested the following.

DON’T LIE

You can stretch the truth by saying things like, “We’ve really enjoyed working with you but…”, but don’t lie about the reason. It can (and probably will) come back to bite you later.

DON’T BE A JERK

When I say don’t lie, it doesn’t mean you have to tell them that everyone you have ever talked to hates their guts. It is acceptable to candy coat things a bit. You can say things like, “It feels like we haven’t been able to find a way to work together that is beneficial for both sides.”

DON’T JUST EMAIL

You can send them an email but make sure you also meet with them in person or call them on the phone. It’s more professional, you’ll be sure to get the tone right (which should be polite), and there's a better chance to minimize any hard feelings.

DON’T LEAVE THEM IN THE LURCH

Finish up whatever deliverable you’re working on, package up their files and have them ready to hand over (if the client is all paid up, of course). Recommend another company or consultant who might be a better fit for their needs.

EXCEPTION TO THE RULES

If your client has harassed any of your team members, made inappropriate and offensive statements or actions, or hasn’t paid you as per your contract, feel free to ignore all the above and dropkick them to Pluto.  And by dropkick them to Pluto, I mean contact your lawyer. There are some extreme circumstances that don’t warrant the high road, they call for the legal road.

Doug Turner, RPLS #3988, is Past President of TSPS and member of Chapter 9 - Gulf Coast. 

Connor: I am a third generation surveyor. Both my grandfather and father, Gary G. Brown, RPLS #4654 worked as surveyors for Champion International Paper Company. When I was younger I swore I’d never become a surveyor. However, as I got older my interest in surveying grew. I went on to work for Michael Parker, RPLS #4527, A.L. Hargraves, RPLS #2075 while I attending Angelina College. I then went on to work for  Buster Sartain, RPLS #1978 while attending UT Tyler. After working in the GIS Industry for a few years, I decided to pursue a career in surveying and worked alongside Steven Estes, RPLS #5631 while attending Lone Star College, Montgomery to earn additional credits in order to take the SIT Exam. Afterwards, I spent five years working with my father while obtaining my SIT and RPLS. Everyone mentioned above helped instill my love for surveying and I’m thankful for their investment into my career.

TSPS: Why did you join TSPS?

Connor: My father was active in the TSPS Chapter 8 - Central East Texas for many years, holding several officer positions. Chapter 8 granted me a scholarship while I was attending UT Tyler. After I obtained my RPLS, I felt it was my duty to give back to the profession and to TSPS. I reached out to Shane Neally, RPLS #5385, who was TSPS President at the time, to see how I could get involved. TSPS has allowed me to connect with many respected surveyors across the state and provided many opportunities to serve the profession and give back. I believe the numerous networking connections I have made through TSPS outweigh any of the costs of being involved. 

TSPS: What is your most memorable surveying moment?

Connor: Mr. Parker would probably want me to mention the 5-foot long Rattlesnake, with 19 rattles that I almost stepped on, the electric fence that I shoved the range pole into or the time I fell and slid down a creek bank, ending up with a water moccasin between my legs! One moment that comes to mind was when I was once surveying inside the Hexion Chemical Plant in Diboll, which entailed running a total station with hardhat, safety goggles and gloves. That day the Hexion Safety lady wouldn’t let us take a shot on a certain tank, dressed up in a hazmat suit only to take the shot herself, and then said she had to keep the range pole for safety reasons. Or even my time spent floating around in a flat bottom Jon boat on a city wastewater treatment plant’s sludge pond to take topographic shots of the pond's bottom. Overall, my most memorable moments is when I discover an original monument. This truly brings a certain thrill that only surveyors understand. 

Connor's Favorites:

Color: Blue
Food: Seafood
Animal: White Tail Deer
Singer/Band/Group: Casting Crowns, MercyMe, TobyMac, Zac Brown Band
Hobbies: History, Dallas Cowboys, Houston Astros

Connor is currently the TSPS Secretary/Treasurer and Chapter 4 Representative. 

The Surveyors' Fight in Navarro County, in October, 1838.

At this date the long since abandoned village of "Old" Franklin, situated in the post oaks between where Bryan and Calvert now stand, was the extreme outside settlement, omitting a few families in the Brazos valley, in the vicinity of Marlin, and was the county seat of the original Robertson County, with its immense unsettled territory. including the west half of Dallas County and territory north and west of it. It was a rendezvous for both surveying parties and volunteers on expeditions against the Indians. Its male population was much larger than the female and embraced a number of men of more or less note for intelligence and courage. Among these were Dr. George W. Hill, long a senator and once in President Houston's Cabinet, for whom Hill County was named: Capt. Eli Chandler, a brave frontiersman; E. L. R Wheelock, Cavitt Armstrong, the father of the Cavitt family of later times, and others.

There was a great desire on the part of both discharged soldiers and other citizens who had just received bounty and head-right certificates for land to have them located and the land surveyed. In the early summer of 1838, near Richland creek, twelve or fourteen miles southerly from Corsicana, three men belonging to a surveying party were surprised and killed. Their names were Barry, Holland, and William F. Sparks, a land locator from Nacogdoches. The remainder of the party, too weak for defense against the number of the savages, cautiously and successfully eluded them and returned home.

Early in October of the same year William F. Henderson, for many years since an estimable citizen of Corsicana, fitted out a surveying party to locate lands in what is now the southwest portion of Navarro County. He and his assistant each had a compass. The entire party consisted of twenty-four men and one boy and was under the command of Capt. Neill.

The party arrived on the field of their labors and encamped at a spring or water hole about two-mile northwest of what after that expedition was and ever since has been known as Battle creek.

Here they met with a large body of Indians, chiefly Kickapoos, but embracing some of several tribes, who were encamped in the vicinity, killing buffalo. They professed friendship, but manifested decided opposition to having the lands surveyed, assuring the party that if they persisted the Comanches and Ionies would kill them. But it was believed their design was only to frighten them away. After a day or two a trial of the compasses was made, when it was found one of the needles had lost its magnetism and would not work. William M. Love, afterward a well-known citizen of Navarro County, and a Mr. Jackson were sent back to Franklin for a magnet to recharge the needle, thus reducing the party to twenty-three. Early on the following morning Henderson ran a line for a mile or so, more or less Indians following and intently watching the manipulation of the compass, one of them remarking: "It is God's eye." The party, after a satisfactory trial, returned to camp for breakfast, and after that was over, returned to, and were about resuming their work, when from a ravine, about forty yards distant, they were fired upon by about fifty Indians. The men, led by Capt. Neill, at once charged upon them, but in doing so, discovered about a hundred warriors rushing to aid those in the ravine from the timber behind them. At the same time about the same number of mounted Indians charged them from the prairie in their rear. Neill retreated under heavy fire to the head of a branch in the prairie with banks four or five feet high. There was some brush and a few trees; but seventy-five yards below them was another cluster, of which the enemy took possession. This was between 9 and 10 o'clock a. m., and there the besieged were held under a fluctuating fire until midnight. Everyone who exposed himself to view was killed or wounded. Euclid M. Cox for an hour stood behind a lone tree on the bank doing much execution, but was finally shot through the spine, upon which Walter P. Lane, afterwards a distinguished Brigadier-general in the Confederate army, jumped upon the bank and dragged him into the ravine, in which he died soon afterwards. A man named Davis, from San Augustine, having a fine horse, attempted to escape through the line of Indians strung in a circle around the little band, but he was killed in sight of his comrades. A band of mounted Indians, not participating in the fight, collected on an elevation just out of gunshot, and repeatedly called out, " Come to Kickapoo! Kickapoo good Indian! " and by gesticulations manifested friendship, in which our men placed no possible confidence; but among them was Mr. Spikes, a feeble old man of eighty-two years, who said his days were few at best, and as he could not see to shoot, he would test their sincerity. He mounted and rode up to them and was mercilessly butchered. Night brought no relief or cessation of the attack, and a number of our men were dead in the ravine. The moon shone brightly until midnight. But when it sank below the horizon, the survivors determined to make an effort to reach the timber on a brushy branch leading into a creek heavily covered with thickets and trees and distant hardly half a mile. Three horses yet lived, and on these the wounded were placed, and the fiery ordeal began. The enemy pressed on the rear and both flanks. The wounded were speedily shot from their horses. Capt. Neill was wounded and immediately lifted on one of the horses, but both fell an instant later. A hundred yards from the brush Walter P. Lane was shot in the leg, below the knee, shattering, but not breaking the bone. He entered the brush with Henderson and Burton. Mr. William Smith entered at another place alone, and Mr. Violet at still a different place, terribly wounded, and at the same instant another man escaped in like manner. Once under cover, in the dark, each lone man, and the group of three, felt the necessity of perfect silence. Each stealthily and cautiously moved as he or they thought best, and the fate of neither became known to the other until all had reached the settlements. Smith, severely wounded, traveled by night and lay secreted by day till he reached the settlements on the Brazos, distant over forty miles.

The unnamed man, slightly wounded, escaped eastwardly and succeeded, after much suffering, in reaching the settlements. Henderson, Lane and Burton found lodgment in a deep ravine leading to the creek. Lane became so weak from the loss of blood that Henderson tore up his shirt to stanch and bandage the wound and succeeded in the effort. Passing down some distance, they heard the Indians in pursuit, and ascended the bank and lay in brush with their guns cocked. The pursuers passed within three or four feet but failed to discover them. About an hour before day they reached the creek and traveled down to a muddy pool of water. On a log they crawled onto a little island densely matted with brush, under which they lay concealed all day. They repeatedly heard the Indians but remained undiscovered. When night came as an angel of mercy, throwing its mantle over them, they emerged from their hiding place; but when Lane rose up, the agony from his splintered leg was so great that he swooned. On recovering consciousness, he found that Burton, probably considering his condition hopeless, was urging Henderson to abandon him; but that great-hearted son of Tennessee spurned the suggestion. The idea inspired Lane with indignation and the courage of desperation. In words more emphatic than mild he told Burton to go, and declared for himself that he could, and with the help of God and William F. Henderson, would make the trip. By the zigzag route they traveled it was about thirty miles to Tehuacano springs. They traveled, as a matter of course, very slowly, and chiefly by night. Lane hobbling on one leg, supported by Henderson. For two days and nights after leaving their covert they had neither food nor drink. Their sufferings were great, and their clothing torn into rags. On the third day, being the fourth from their first assault by the enemy, they reached the springs named, where three Kickapoos were found with their families. At first, they appeared distant and suspicious, and demanded of them where and how they came to be in such condition. Henderson promptly answered that their party, from which they had become separated, had been attacked by Comanches and lonies, and that they, in their distress, had been hoping to fall in with some friendly Kickapoos. This diplomacy, however remote from the truth, had the desired effect. One of the red men thereupon lighted his pipe, took a few whiffs, and passed it to Henderson, saying, " Smoke! Kickapoo good Indian!" All smoked. Provisions were offered, and the women bathed, dressed and bandaged Lane's leg. Henderson then offered his rifle to one of them if he would allow Lane to ride his horse into Franklin. After some hesitation he assented, and they started on; but during the next day, below Parker's abandoned fort, hearing a gunshot not far off (which proved to belong to another party of Kickapoos, but were not seen), the Indian became uneasy and left them, taking both his pony and the rifle. It should be stated that Lane's gun had been left where they began their march, at the little island, simply because of his inability to carry it; hence Burton's gun was now their last remaining weapon. But now, after the departure of the Indian, they were gladdened by meeting Love and Jackson, returning with the magnet, ignorant, of course, of the terrible calamity that had fallen upon their comrades. Lane was mounted on one of their horses, and they hurried on to Franklin, arriving there without further adventure.

A party was speedily organized at Franklin to go to the scene and bury the dead. On their way out at Tehuacano springs, by the merest accident, they came upon Mr. Violet in a most pitiable and perishing condition. His thigh had been "broken, and for six days, without food or water, excepting uncooked grasshoppers, he had crawled on his hands and knees, over grass and rocks and through brush, about twenty-five miles, in an airline, but much more, in fact, by his serpentine wanderings in a section with which he was unacquainted. His arrival at the springs was a providential interposition, but for which, accompanied by that of the relief party, his doom would have been speedy and inevitable. Two men were detailed to escort him back to Franklin, to friends, to gentle nursing, and finally to restoration of health, all of which were repaid by his conduct as a good citizen in after life.

The company continued on to the battle-ground, collected and buried the remains of the seventeen victims of savage fury, near a lone tree.

It may well be conceived that heroic courage and action were displayed by this little party of twenty- three, encircled by at least three hundred Indians — not wild Comanches with bows and arrows, but the far more formidable Kickapoos and kindred associates, armed with rifles. It was ascertained afterwards that they had sustained a loss in Killed equal to double the number of the Texians, besides many wounded. It was believed that Euclid M. Cos, before receiving his death wound, killed eight or ten.

The Surveyors' Fight ranks, in stubborn courage and carnage, with the bloodiest in our history — with Bowie's San Saba fight in 1831, Bird's victory and death in Bell County in 1839, and Hays' mountain fight in 1844, and others illustrating similar courage and destructiveness.

THE SLAIN

Of the twenty-three men in the fight seventeen were killed, viz.: Euclid M. Cox, Thomas Barton, Samuel Allen, — Ingraham, — Davis, J. Hard, Asa T. Mitchell, J. Neal or Neill, William Tremier, — Spikes, J. Bullock, N. Barker, A. Houston, P. M. Jones, James Jones, David Clark, and one whose name is not remembered.

Those who escaped were William F. Henderson, Walter P. Lane, wounded as described, and Burton, who escaped together; Violet, wounded as described; William Smith, severely wounded in the shoulder; and the man slightly wounded, who escaped towards the east — 6. Messrs. Love and Jackson, though not in the fight, justly deserve to be classed with the party, as they were on hazardous duty and performed it well, besides relieving Lane and then participating in the interment of the dead.

In the year 1885, John P. and Rev. Fred Cox, sons. of Euclid, at their own cost, erected, under the shadow of that lone tree, a handsome and befit- ting monument, on which is carved the names of. all who were slain and all who escaped, excepting that one of each class whose names are missing. The tree and monument, enclosed by a neat fence, one mile west of Dawson, Navarro County, are in plain view of the Texas and St. Louis railroad.

Note. This William Smith, prior to this disastrous contest, but at what precise date cannot be stated, but believed to have been in the winter of 1837-8, lived in the Brazos bottom. The Indians became so bad that he determined to move, and for that purpose placed his effects in his wagon in his yard, but before starting his house was at- tacked. He barred his door and through cracks between the logs fired whenever he could, nearly always striking an Indian, but all his reserve ammunition had been placed in the wagon and the supply in his pouch was nearly exhausted, when Mrs. Smith opened the door, rushed to the wagon, secured the powder and lead and rushed back. Balis and arrows whizzed all about her, but she escaped with slight wounds and immediately began molding bullets. She thought not of herself but of her little children. Honored forever be the pioneer mothers of Texas and thrice honored be such as Mrs. Smith. It was my pleasure after- wards, personally, to know her and some of her children, and to serve on the Southwestern frontier with her fearless husband, an honest Christian man. One of their sons was the late Prof. Smith of Salado College, a son worthy of such parents. Mr. Smith crippled so many of his assailants that they retired, leaving him master of the situation, when he removed farther into the settlements. There is one fact in connection with this affair that, as a Texian, I blush to state. There was an able-bodied man in Mr. Smith's house all the time who slunk away as the veriest craven, taking refuge under the bed, while the heroic father and mother "fought the good fight and kept the faith." I have not his name and if it were known to me would not publish it, as it may be borne by others of heroic hearts, and injustice might be done; besides, the subsequent life of that man must have been a continuing torture.

MEMBERS - RENEW TODAY!

Follow these easy step-by-step instructions to renew your TSPS membership:

1. Sign in on the TSPS website. If you do not know your username, please call TSPS at (512)327-7871. A notification at the top of the social link web page should appear "Your membership will expire on 12/31/18. Renew now!" Click on "Renew now!".

2. If the notification does not appear, click on the "Welcome" button on the top and "Account + Settings". Click on the "Payments & History" tab on the left.

3. Click on “Membership” which is located at the top of the Payment & History page. Here you have the option to pay by credit card or print an invoice to mail in with a check. 

NON-MEMBERS JOIN TODAY!

Take a look at some of the benefits of TSPS membership:

• Master the surveying profession through TSPS's education programs
• Attend the TSPS Annual Convention & Tech Expo to network and earn CEUs
• Stay informed of TSPS and industry happenings with Texas Surveyor magazine as well as the Metes & Bounds e-newsletter
• Establish professional contacts
• Receive significant discounts on CEU and paraprofessional training with your TSPS membership
• Have representation before the state legislature
  
• Get involved in TSPS activities to advance your career
• Earn recognition from your peers through our volunteer opportunities and awards programs
• Enhance your career, capabilities and value by obtaining the Certified Survey Technician Certifications
  
• Receive personalized, professional attention from TSPS staff
• Take advantage of insurance benefits for you and your company
• Wear your pride on your sleeve - shop the TSPS Logo Store
• View additional member benefits here

JOIN TSPS

Online: Click here to join TSPS

Mail: Download the member application, fill out and mail to:

TSPS, Attn: Membership, 2525 Wallingwood Drive Ste 300, Austin TX 78746

Requirements for earning a Surveying Merit Badge include: 
1. Scouts must know first aid for the types of injuries that could occur while surveying. 
2. Find and mark the corners of a five-sided lot that has been laid out by their counselor to fit the land available and must do so by using surveying instruments. 
3. From the field notes gathered for requirement two, draw to scale a map of their survey. 
4. Write a metes and bounds description for the five-sided lot in requirement two. 
5. Use one of the corner markers from requirement two as a benchmark with an assumed elevation of 100 feet. 
6. Get a copy of the deed to their property, or a piece of property assigned by their counselor, from the local courthouse or title agency. 
7. Tell what GPS is; discuss with their counselor the importance of GPS and how it is changing the surveying field. 
8. Discuss the importance of surveying with  a licensed surveyor. 

To view the requirements in their entirety, click here. 

Members of Chapter 2 and Chapter 5 also held a drawing for the scouts and scoutmasters/adult leaders for a new drone. Over all the event was successful and hundreds of connections were made to allow our chapter representatives to teach the scouts about Surveying as a profession and help them earn their merit badge, which many didn't even know existed. On behalf of Shaun Piepkorn, RPLS, "Thank you to everyone who helped organize and attended this event!".

Steven: I first got into surveying through family members. My great grandfather, Perry Thompson, Sr., RPLS, LSLS and past TBPLS Board Member, grandfather, Perry Thompson, Jr., PE, RPLS and uncle, Perry Thompson, III, Architect, Interior Designer, RPLS were all respected professionals in great state of Texas. While the surveying profession wasn't my original career path, being surrounded by the profession since I was old enough to go out with my grandfather and hold a prism pole or level rod, eventually helped me turn what I knew best and make surveying my now career of choice.   

TSPS: Why did you join TSPS?

Steven: I joined originally because my family had been long time members, supporters and held roles of leadership with TSPS. However, I personally joined to connect with friends and colleagues. Throughout the years, I have made many more friends with my involvement in TSPS.  

TSPS: What is your most memorable surveying moment?

Steven: There have been many memorable moments made throughout my career, but one memory brought up recently by an old colleague, Michael R. Hannah, RPLS really stuck out. One late spring we were performing an oil and gas unit survey in northern Rusk County which was situated within a large flat partially flooded creek bottom. While traversing through the bottoms, we came to a very large slough which appeared to have no way around it. We knew we had several corners to look for on the other side to set up some of the boundaries for the unit and there appeared to be no end to the water from our view. After analyzing our next move we decided to press forward and cross the slough. I was leading our crossing where we faced chest deep water and stirred up water moccasins, I think I chopped about five or six heads off of the snakes. We finally made it across, we still stood in knee-deep water and ended up finding the old original corners and some witness trees in which we were hoping to locate. At the end we were tired, muddy and dirt but it was a very rewarding day. 

Steven's Favorites:

Color: Green
Food: Mexican & BBQ
Animal: Ducks
Singer: George Straight
Hobbies: Hunting

Steven is currently the TSPS Secretary/Treasurer and Chapter 4 Representative. 

The Rising Cost of Healthcare for a Family of Four
Written by Don Canada, Silicon Benefits

Regardless of party affiliation, the high cost of healthcare is a great concern for many Americans who have watched their health insurance premiums double since 2013.  A recent study found the cost of healthcare for a typical American family of four, covered by an average employer-sponsored preferred provider organization (PPO) plan, is $28,166 annually.

U.S. healthcare is close to 18% of GDP!  In Fort Worth, small to mid-size businesses have hit a “ceiling of complexity” with the astronomical cost of providing health insurance to employees and/or their families.  A short-term strategy leveraged by many employers has been to “shift” the increase in financial responsibility to the employees in the form of higher premiums and/or out- of-pocket exposure to the employee and/or their dependents.  For most employers, Employee Benefits typically make up a 1/3 of the bottom line.  Employers, employees and families are in a difficult position to find the word “affordable” in the Affordable Care Act.  

On October 12, 2017 President Trump issued Executive Order 13813 - Promoting Healthcare Choice and Competition Across the United States.  On June 22, 2018 the DOL issued a final ruling aimed at lowering health insurance cost.  The order focuses on expanding the availability of three types of health coverage arrangements:

1.  Association Health Plans (AHP)

2.  Short-Term and Limited Duration (STLDI)

3.  Healthcare Reimbursement Accounts (HRA)

 Association Health Plans (AHP)

The ruling by the Department of Labor (DOL) will make it easier for small businesses to band together to buy health insurance across state lines without the regulatory requirements of the ACA.  An association can be formed for the sole purpose of offering an association health plan to its members.  The Congressional Budget Office predicts 4 million people will enroll in AHPs impacting individuals, sole proprietors, small employers, employees and their families.

Short Term Limited Duration Insurance (STLDI)

Short Term Medical plans have been around for decades, but were deemed non-compliant by the ACA since the product did not meet the ACA definition of essential benefits, had limitations, and did not provide coverage for pre-existing conditions. With the recent changes, Short Term Medical insurance can be purchased for up to 360 days and is a consideration for many healthy individuals who are no longer willing to bear the cost of a permanent coverage either for them and/or their dependents.   

Healthcare Reimbursement Arrangements (HRA)

HRAs traditionally were utilized to reimburse employees for “unreimbursed medical, dental and vision benefits.”  The restrictions have been relaxed on HRAs allowing employers to “reimburse premiums” on a tax-advantaged basis.  Small employers may consider offering an HRA, in lieu of offering a group health plan, to protect the company from volatile increase and uncertainty in the future. However, in this scenario, the employees bear the risk of rising premiums and a volatile individual health insurance marketplace. 

Is the final ruling final?  The opposition contends the arrangements are a way to work around the ACA requirement requiring plans cover essential benefits. A coalition of 12 States have filed a lawsuit challenging the DOL ruling that allows healthcare plans to sidestep protections set up by the ACA.  The IRS has issued a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) with open comment, on whether the employer mandate (ACA mandated that employers with 51+ employees must provide health insurance or pay a significant penalty) applies to small employers who offer coverage through an AHP, if that employer has fewer than 50 full-time employees.  There is still a lot to learn and the target is constantly moving.  Now, more than ever, employers need to work with a professional who is experienced, up-to-speed on the changing legislation, and who makes your needs the #1 priority.

Don Canada, Jr. is a successful entrepreneur, accomplished triathlete, and Employee Benefit Advisor who proudly helps Texas Surveyors with transparency.  Canada has followed employee benefit legislation for over twenty-five years, from Hillary Care in 1993, to Obamacare in 2010, now Trumpcare in 2018.  Canada writes, speaks, and consults with small to mid-size business owners who want to learn the truth about their Employee Benefits.  

Contact info:
don.canada@siliconbenefits.com 
512.426.3225

TSPS: How/why did you get into surveying?

James: I went to work as a Rodman right out of high school for the City of Waco Engineering Services where we primarily did civil engineering related surveying. Clip on EDM’s were phasing out, affordable electronic total stations hadn’t been out long and the data collector – was not man’s best friend. Fortunately, my Party Chief Lynn Ewing had a skill set of a walking abacus, with a side of slide ruler and sine table, in which, he passed down the art of hand calculations. As technology and my curiosities evolved, I began classes and attending the annual TSPS Convention at TSTC Waco while earning an Associate Degree in Geomatics under the direction of Charles Styron (#1338) and Michael Evans (#4715). 

TSPS: Why did you join TSPS?

James: Initially I joined due to Styron and Evans strongly advocating the education and networking benefits that TSPS had to offer. Moving forward a decade later, my time at Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi being involved directly and behind the scenes of the Convention helped motivate my desire to join TSPS. Moreover, being a part of an elite Professional Society that works closely with its general membership along with the members of the Texas Legislature on issues that affect our livelihood; maintaining a strong presence on the legislative platform, as well as, professes awareness and promotes the surveying profession to the public, is imperative not only to my future, but the future of upcoming Surveyors. Lastly, the future of our profession through community outreach and scholarships is an avenue for me to give back and help pave the way of the future surveyor.  

TSPS: What is your most memorable surveying moment?

James: I have been fortunate to have experienced several stellar surveying moments throughout my career thus far. I’ve found original corners, expert witness investigative duties, all types of water boundaries, surveyed the ranches of George W. Bush and Ted Nugent, built towns, subdivisions and airports, inshore/nearshore hydrographic surveying, refinery/midstream industrial surveying, staked high rise buildings, fought off a floating den of water moccasins in a river, chased by donkeys and javelinas, pinned down by a peacock, all while, sloshing around in mother nature’s sporadic Texas weather. The most memorable surveying moment was receiving my Certificate of Registration to practice as a Professional Land Surveyor in the great State of Texas. My sincerest gratitude goes out to everyone who has helped me on this journey (not typical-of course), inspirational mentors, contributing employers, friends, family and most of all my wife, Jennifer Anne.

James' Favorites:

Color: Red, White and Blue
Food: Texas Barbeque
Animal: My French Bulldog, Coco Chanel Carr
Singer/Band/Group: Classic Rock/Country, Silence is good, occasional Marshmello with my son, Grayson
Hobbies: Spending time with my family

James is currently the TSPS Chapter 12 - Coastal Bend President and works for Urban Engineering in Corpus Christi, TX.

Why should we support the Certified Survey Technician (CST) Program?

With the declining number of Registered Professional Land Surveyors in the work force, the amounts of work performed by technicians will be increasing. To increase the work flow through a surveyor’s office, the quality and correctness of the technicians work must be increased for efficiency and profitability. The CST program provides a career ladder and credentials for these technicians.

How can we increase the implication of the Certified Survey Technician Program?

The employer through his supervisory personnel can lead with in-house training or support from your local Chapter. Training and testing needs to be introduced to your existing technicians. Surveyors will discover quickly which technicians have the drive to improve their knowledge and add value to the company. Each TSPS chapter should have a committee supporting, teaching, and/or leading self-study classes and support groups. TSPS has prepared classes for the support of the CST Program which are available to all chapters. The CST classes have typically been taught at the symposium once a year. Testing needs to available at each chapter and at least twice a year. The CST test has been given at seven sites with approximately 50 students this year. I would like to see this numbers doubled in the next test cycle.

When should applications for testing be summited?

An application for the CST testing can be found at the TSPS or the NSPS websites. The application deadline is two weeks prior to the next scheduled exam of September 9, 2017. Applications must be mailed to NSPS CST Program, Attn: Sara Maggi at 5119 Pegasus Court, Suite Q, Frederick, MD 21704. More certified and registered proctors are needed across the state. See the TSPS web site for additional information.

Richard: I attended the summer surveying camp at Texas A&M University, where we were taken out of the classroom and given field and office tasks typical to a professional land surveying firm. The degree of precision required in the field and the research required for boundary construction in the office intrigued me, and it was apparent that each project would be unique and pose a new set of challenges. Because of this experience, it was evident that a career in land surveying would never be uninteresting. I was hired by Jon Hodde in 2009, and the experience gained under his mentorship was extremely beneficial. Making daily decisions to do your job the right way or the wrong way becomes habitual, and following Jon’s example allowed me to know the difference.

TSPS: Why did you join TSPS?

Richard: After being hired on as a survey technician at Hodde & Hodde Land Surveying in Brenham, I began meeting several TSPS members through networking. I realized that TSPS members not only care about the current state of the profession, but also strive to ensure that the future of land surveying is bright. I then began to make efforts to surround myself with surveyors that had this mentality, and have enjoyed the experience ever since.

TSPS: What is your most memorable surveying moment?

Richard: Jon and I were in the field one day finishing a survey while trying to beat an incoming thunderstorm. We were about a mile walk from the truck when we completed the field work, and the storm was on top of us. We could see lightning beginning to strike between us and the truck, so we were on alert. At a certain point, we both saw a red blast of light, felt the ground shake, and the next thing we knew, we were both on the ground looking at each other, not knowing what had happened. We then noticed that a giant oak tree about 50 feet away from us was black and smoking at the top from a lightning strike, which kicked off the series of events. Needless to say, we were relieved to get back in the truck and on the way back to the office.

Richard's Favorites:

Color: Maroon
Food: Ribeye Steak
Animal: My Pyrador dog, Paige
Singer/Band/Group: Anything 80's or 90's and Country Music
Hobbies: Spending time on my family ranch in Lampasas County

Richard is currently the TSPS Chapter 20 - Brazos Valley President and works for Railroad Infrastructure & Terminal Development, LLC in Brookshire, TX. 

Brandon: I learned about surveying during an internship at the Lower Colorado River Authority while going to school at UT in Austin. While working I realized surveying involved parts of other disciplines I had interest in, including history, engineering, law, GIS, and technology. Another great advantage I saw in surveying was the flexibility to choose how much time a person could spend in the field versus the office. The quality of other professionals in the field helped seal the deal on my decision to pursue a career in surveying, their friendliness and helpfulness stood out among other career choices I had considered and really aided in my decision.

TSPS: Why did you join TSPS?

Brandon: TSPS provides many benefits for its members, but more than anything I wanted to support an organization that promotes surveying to the public. Also, surveying seems to be an often overlooked career choice by many and TSPS helps to inform the public and youth on what a surveyor does to attract new recruits into the surveying profession. One of the best advantages to joining TSPS is the networking it provides, allowing surveyors to come together and share knowledge and learn from each other.

TSPS: What is your most memorable surveying moment?

Brandon: Finding old original monuments has been something I have always found intriguing because of the unique history behind the monument and knowing what the surveyors would have endured to set them during those early times in Texas' history. I decided to pull some of the original patents for some family land near my house and try my hand at searching for some of the old corners, knowing most, if not all will be long destroyed. After a lot of research and several evenings walking through the woods looking for other corners, I finally found an original witness tree with an X blazed into it by a surveyor in 1854, my oldest to date. The mark is on the aptly named "Big Brushy Creek" and I spent the next half hour chopping yaupons out of the way so I could get a quality picture. I consider myself a very young surveyor and I expect many more memorable experiences to happen in the future.

Brandon's Favorites:

Color: Burnt Orange
Food: Chinese
Animal: Labrador Retriever
Singer: Ray Wylie Hubbard
Hobbies: Hunting (especially turkeys), fishing, and spending time with my wife and 2 year old son

Brandon is currently the TSPS Chapter 14 - Guadalupe Valley President and works for CivilCorp, LLC in Victoria, TX. 

There are others; Brady, Concan, and I’m sure the instructors for those all feel the same way I do. There’s a passion about land surveying that brings out the best in all of us. The curiosity, the intellect, the desire to solve the puzzle of the original footsteps, the complexity of the legal issues, the detective in us is inescapably drawn to it.

The HPE was the brainchild of Craig Alderman. I first met Craig many years ago. I don’t even remember exactly when, but he seemed quiet. Friendly, but just a nice guy that came to the board meetings. Craig lived in Midland, which is close to Lubbock, where I live, at least in terms of the size of Texas, but our paths didn’t cross too often. Over the years, Craig got more and more involved in TSPS. He became a Chapter President, then the West Texas Area Director, and I started seeing him doing a lot of committee work at the state level. Before I knew it, Craig was working very hard, mostly behind the scenes, but he seemed to be everywhere at TSPS meetings and functions. I began to develop a strong respect for his work ethic. It was showing.

Then, one day, Craig called me up and he had this wild notion of doing a 3-day seminar, one similar to the ones being done down state. He wanted a group of Licensed State Land Surveyors from this area to give a seminar showcasing the pioneer surveyors of West Texas. When he asked me if I’d team up with Stan Piper, Maxey Sheppard, and Michel Newton, it was a no-brainer…I said, “I’m in.”

J.D. Davis, LSLS, a HPE instructor from Amarillo had been doing some survey work on the LIT Ranch for Bill O’Brien, the owner. Bill is a history buff and a bit of an amateur surveyor who loves the lore of the land. J.D. had developed a good relationship with Bill and when he spoke to him about our idea, he granted us permission to use his ranch for the seminar. What I had thought would be impossible started to take shape. This thing was going to happen!

Anyone who’s ever been an instructor or a seminar speaker knows the preparation that goes into that and we all worked hard to get our classes teachable, but the logistics of putting together a successful seminar like HPE are enormous. Craig had a vision though, and in his true fashion, behind the scenes, he worked tirelessly to make it exactly as he had envisioned. We joked about how Craig would crack the whip on us to get things done. Not only was he making arrangements for lodging, classrooms, meals, skeet shoots, supplies, registration, etc., he was out in the field on the ranch with his GPS looking for original monuments for us to use in our classes. When it was time for the seminar to start, all we had to do was show up and teach. We have other team members for support, but Craig was behind all of it.

We all knew Craig worked hard to make our HPE run smoothly, we just didn’t realize how hard…..until this year.

Craig lost his battle with cancer in July of 2017. At his last HPE only a few weeks earlier, we knew he didn’t feel well, but he wouldn’t show it. It was just part of his character.  We gave Craig an award at that time, all of us hoping for the best but fearing the worst. When Craig passed, we lost a valuable team member. He was the reason we were doing this in the first place and we soon found out just how much he did in the background to make HPE successful. We had to pull even closer together as a team to do all the “dirty work” that goes with a seminar like this. But more than that, we lost a dear friend. You couldn’t know Craig and not like him. His humble, gentle spirit and his dogged determination was infectious, and he left a hole in all our lives.

After Craig’s funeral, we all knew we wanted to do something special, and the Final Point seemed like the perfect way to honor his contributions to us, and to all the Texas surveyors that had been influenced by his work in some fashion. We found a spot on the LIT Ranch, a place that Craig loved, and with the generosity of Bill O’Brien and his family, we were given permission to put Craig’s marker on top of a hill overlooking the Canadian River valley.

At this year’s HPE, we had a ceremony at Craig’s Final Point marker where everyone who wanted to speak was given the opportunity to share their memories and thoughts. It was a bittersweet moment, but it gave us some closure and I think Craig would’ve approved. It was a small, humble offering to a man who had a positive impact and touched so many, in a quiet and beautiful place. A marker that we can return to each year and hopefully, pass along some of the kindness that Craig always had to offer.

We’ll keep going as long as we can. We’ve all come to love the High Plains Experience and as long as folks keep showing up, we’ll be there. We have to work a little harder now, but we try to do it without complaining. Craig never did. We’re all just feathers in the wind, but we are grateful for our time with people like Craig Alderman who inspire us to be better. 

For more on the NSPS Final Point program, visit: https://nsps.site-ym.com/general/custom.asp?page=FinalPoint

One thing they didn’t have to deal with, though, was today’s heavy underground infrastructure.

Ramming a steel survey rod into the ground is like playing roulette. You win if you miss something, you lose if you hit something; how much you lose depends on what you hit.

To prevent that, Texas811 offers a survey/design ticket to identify what’s below before you begin your field work.

 
A pair of ticket survey samples. Reminder - contractors will need to call back in and process a normal ticket once ready to begin working.

According to Scott Sasajima, Director of Operations at Texas811, “Protecting underground facilities always starts with 811. If you’re in the planning stage, request a Survey/Design ticket if no excavation is taking place. If and when that should change, convert your request to a routine ticket so the facility operators are aware of the pending excavation and refresh or place their markings accordingly.”

Again, the design survey ticket does not cover any excavation, and does not relieve the eventual excavator from calling 811 before actual excavation gets underway. TSPS Association President-Elect John Barnard defines a design survey as “typically consisting of boundary (including easements and set backs), improvements, trees and topography... basically a picture of the legal and physical constraints that would affect architectural or engineering design.”

That said, the laws set forth in Utilities Code Title 5, Chapter 251 and the Texas Administrative Code (TAC) Title 16, Part 1, Chapter 18 require excavators (and driving a rod into the ground at that depth turns a surveyor into an excavator by definition) to call 811 if excavation activities exceed a depth of 16”. Therefore, some cases that involve setting property corners, setting control points, and certain other survey activities are considered to be excavation.

Work considered to be for “design purposes” typically does not meet the definition of excavation and therefore operators have no legal requirement to locate their facilities for the requestor. Some do so voluntarily while others may prohibit their locators from responding so a requestor can’t assume that every operator will locate.

For such design jobs, we recommend that you call 811 which will generate a ticket identifying all operators which may have facilities in your proposed project. While you might not receive a Positive Response from all operators at least you will be able to see who is in the area so that you can contact their engineering departments directly and review any potential conflicts.

The operators who are notified have 48 hours to provide a “Positive Response” by either placing marks on the ground identifying the approximate location of the underground facility or by clearing it by fax or e-mail. 

If you do not receive a Positive Response within 48 hours, contact 811 again and declare a “No Response” identifying the operator that did not respond and the contact center will reissue the locate request. Repeat the process as often as necessary if you don’t receive a Positive Response.

More information is always available from your local Damage Prevention Council of Texas (DPC). These 23 non-profit councils hold free monthly meetings with contractors, utility operators, and stakeholders interested in damage prevention. The round table discussions and lunches facilitated by a Damage Prevention Manager are a great way to propose solutions and get answers.

For access to individual DPC websites and meeting schedules or to arrange for a Damage Prevention Manager to speak at one your meetings, visit the DPCs of Texas website.

Always remember that the call to 811 is free as is the subsequent locating.

###

Please join in this effort by nominating a candidate for an award. To make a nomination, complete and return the Awards Nomination Form no later than end of day on April 28th.

Josh W. Leamons, Chair
Awards Committee
josh@leamons.com

Riparian Boundary along the Prairie Dog Fork of the Red River in Hall County, Texas.

(Survey report submitted to the Commissioner of the Texas General Land Office on February 22, 2016, for consideration of status of land between the Poitevent Surveys and the Prairie Dog Fork of the Red River in Hall County, Texas.)

Introduction

Owners of river sections along the Prairie Dog Fork of the Red River (hereinafter referred to as the Prairie Dog Fork), specifically Sections 6-9, Block 1, of the J. Poitevent Surveys, in Hall County, Texas, questioned the ownership of a significant amount of land between the northern ends of the original land grants of Sections 11-16, Block 1, J. Poitevent Surveys, from the State of Texas and the gradient boundary[1] of the Prairie Dog Fork which has been under fence since at least the early 1970s.

To better understand how to designate this land, the geologic history of the river basin in this area would first need to be studied. The application of riparian boundary law would then be considered.

Figure 1. Picture of the Prairie Dog Fork of the Red River taken November 18, 2015.

River Basin Geology

The Prairie Dog Fork forms out of the Palo Duro Canyon where it gathers its water from tributaries. The red sediments suspended and eventually deposited throughout the Red River basin comes from the “brilliant red sandstone” from the “walls of the [canyon]”.[2] (see Figure 1) This area of the panhandle of Texas is an alluvial apron cover from the eroded material of the Rocky Mountains which lie west over sedimentary rocks.[3] (see Figure 2)  The porous and permeable deposits dip to the east forming aquifers with some ground-water drainage into the Red River basin from the Ogallala formation.[4]

The natural development of a river is to downcut, lateral erode, sheetwash, and mass wasting to form a flood plain which contains the sinuosity of the river channel. Through time, stream terraces develop indicating the waterway “flowed at a high level but subsequently eroded down to a lower level.” If the sea level becomes low, the flow has more energy to deepen its valley.  When the stream reaches a graded level, then the down cutting ceases and laterally erosion begins establishing a new flood plain. “Several episodes of deposition and erosion accounts for multiple terraces seen in the valleys of some streams.” [5]

The hydrogeology of the Prairie Dog Fork of the Red River begins in the Ogalalla formation of the High Plains aquifer, primarily south of the Canadian River in the western part of the Texas Panhandle and eastern part of New Mexico. The recharge of the aquifer system in Texas is as low as 0.061 centimeters per year. However, the evapotranspiration (transpiration by plants and evaporation from land surfaces) exceeds the available precipitation. The amount of decrease in the volume of water in the aquifer system is about 166 million acre-feet per year mostly in Texas and Kansas.[6] Through time, the energy contained in the river that once carried ample sediments was reduced enough to allow alluvial deposits along the flat river basin creating a braided-stream that stretches over a mile in width in some places. Islands are created and destroyed by this process as the normal flow of the river can see torrential floods from the surrounding runoffs of the upland area.

Cadastral System along Navigable Rivers

Statutory Law

In accordance to Texas statutes, which were subsequently adopted through succession of civil law, a river or stream that maintains an average width of thirty (30’) feet from the mouth up is considered navigable[7] whether by fact or law[8]. The rights of ownership and control of the waters and the beds of statutorily determined navigable rivers are retained to be the sovereignty.[9]  Original land grants are to be as squared as allowed. But in cases where they lie on a navigable stream, the original surveys “shall front one-half of the square on the stream with the line running at right angles with the general course of the river.” This is known as “river sections.” Original land grants that failed to yield to navigable streams were validated through Relinquishment Act of 1929.[10] Although the patentee was allowed to hold title to the bed of the river up to the allowed acreage, the water rights would remain under the authority of the state.[11] “Islands formed in a navigable stream belong to the state.”[12]

Historical Deposition of Sovereign Lands

The J. Poitevent Surveys along the south bank and the Southern Pacific Railroad Company Surveys along the adjacent north bank of the Prairie Dog Fork in Hall County, Texas (see Figure 2), follow the statutory requirements of surveys along a navigable stream. The Poitevent Surveys were from a land scrip as a payment for public improvements along the Trinity river as allowed by the Act of June 2, 1873.[13] The general course of the river through this area was in a west to east direction. Therefore, the river sections of 640 acres, as allowed by Script grant acts to encourage infrastructure growth in the State of Texas, fronted the river at half the square section of 1900 varas[14] (950 varas) and ran back as far off the river frontage to make 640 acres. As allowed by the act, for each section surveyed for the pursuant of the Script grant (labeled with an odd number), an adjacent equal area was surveyed for the Texas Public School Fund (labeled with an even number). The latter school fund tracts were granted to individuals by the State of Texas. The entire reservation established by the act would have been completed in this manner setting up a system of surveys that would have no junior-senior dignity within itself.

Figure 2. Original land grants located along the north and south banks of the Prairie Dog Fork of the Red River in Hall County, Texas. (Texas GLO, 2015)

The Poitevent system of surveys begins on the south bank of the Prairie Dog Fork from connecting ties across the river to the Texas & Pacific Railroad Company system of surveys. The descriptions used within the patented field notes clearly call to begin and run its meanders along the south bank of the river for each of the sections from 1 to 10. The surveyor makes reference to the “bluff” or “high bank” for the natural meandering calls of the Prairie Dog Fork. The majority of these sections also have passing calls to a tributary to the Prairie Dog Fork known as the Little Red River. (see Figure 3) This river is substantial in size to bring awareness to the surveyor of the Poitevent surveys but yet somehow failed to meet the surveyor’s discretion as a navigable river. Section 11 changes its beginning call to start on the south bank of the Little Red River at its mouth. The mouth of a river is at a place that is terminus of that river from flowing.

Figure 3. Little Red River at, or near, the original northwest corner of Section 11 of the J. Poitevent Survey call for the mouth. (2015)

From the call of the northwest corner of Section 11 at the mouth of the Little Red River, the calls for the remaining sections (12-15) in question all beginning on the south bank of the river. This would infer the surveyor was again at the south bank of the Prairie Dog Fork as was on the first ten (10) sections.

River bed Islands

Sections 10 and 11 beginning calls make reference to Goat Island whence witness accessories were identified. In 1908, an approximate 400-acre vacancy[15] application with a survey of Goat Island was submitted to the Texas General Land Office for consideration of purchase. From the jacket[16] of the surveyor’s field notes, the surveyor swore to the classification of the vacancy as described as being sandy loam soil being used as half agricultural and half grazing, not suitable for living. He also described that there was seldom, if ever, any overflow of water. (see Figure 4)

Figure 4. View of the upland vegetation and fencing approximately in the middle of Goat Island. (2015)

Later in 1913, another subsequent submission for a vacancy filing[17] was requested on a smaller 20-acre island downstream approximately 2-1/2 miles from Goat Island. This application was denied by the land commissioner as deemed a part of the river bed from testimony provided in the surveyor’s report. The surveyor states that the island banks are difficult to determine in this area and all looks to be a part of the bed. He refers to a previous survey in the same area containing 40 acres. He describes streams and islands throughout the entire bed which would closely resemble a description of a braided stream. He closes with that this island is subject to overflow of water during ordinary high water and was not subject to living, grazing, or agriculture.

These are two very distinct descriptions and opinions of existence of islands, both of which were located within the banks of the Prairie Dog Fork within a few years of each other in very early 20th century. Goat Island apparently existed before the time the original land grants of the river sections in the late 19th century. However, the latter mentioned island was the result of the shifting alluvium in the bed of the river from a recent flood event and was eventually considered to be a part of the bed of the river.

Theory

The Doctrine of Accretion grants title to the additional alluvium deposits that has been accreted by natural, imperceptible means.[18] “Reliction is the term applied to land that has been covered by water, but which has become uncovered by the imperceptible recession of the water, and although technically speaking, land uncovered by a gradual subsidence of water is not an ‘accretion’ but a ‘reliction,’ the terms are often used interchangeably, and the law relating to accretion applies in all its features to relictions.”[19] Through time, it has been proven that the flow of the ground water from the Ogalalla formation of the High Plains basin has diminished from which the headwaters of the Prairie Dog Fork originate. This, in turns, decreases the energy contained within the river flow allowing alluvial sediment to precipitate raising the river bed and allowing upland vegetation to take root. The residual portion of the braided stream would continue to meanderly flow in the flood plain but in a narrower region than before. Bare soil within the river bed could still be seen as recent as the 1950s (see Figure 5) further illustrating how the braided river stream flowed around the north and south sides of Goat Island at one time. However, at this time the river had already established a slightly lower gradient elevation than in the early part of the 20th century in the northern part of the river bed due to the decrease flow from upstream.

Figure 5. Aerial image of the confluence of the Little Red River and the Prairie Dog Fork of the Red River in Hall County, Texas. (U.S.G.S., 1953)

As the coverage of the river ceased to exist along the northern meander lines of the Poitevent river sections, the Little Red River was forced to cut a new channel to meet with the current flow of the Prairie Dog Fork. Today, the mouth of the Little Red River, which was once located at the northwest corner of Section 11, was relocated approximately six linear miles downstream near the northwest corner of Section 20.

Goat Island remains as it did when first described in the original field notes from 1908 with the exception of the accretion along its northern boundary as the river slowly moves north eroding the north bank along the Southern Pacific Railroad Company system of surveys. The area of Goat Island and its accreted lands has been within occupied fence since the early 1970s.[20]

Therefore, in my opinion, due to the decreased flow of water in the Prairie Dog Fork in this area, the water that once covered the southern portion of the river bed ceased to flow and has relicted to the wide, flat-bottom river bed where it exists today. Because of this reliction, the title to the exposed land should be controlled through the same laws relating to the Doctrine of Accretion and the rights and enjoyment should be granted to the adjacent upland riparian owners.[21]  In the area north of Section 11 of the Poitevent system of Surveys, reliction claim can only exist on the land between the northern meanderings of the Poitevent river sections to the southern bank of Goat Island as it was deemed to be public school land by the acting Texas Land Commissioner, John Terrell. “The title to an island which springs up in the bed of a navigable stream vests in the owner [state] of that part of the bed upon which the island forms and accretions to the island vest in the same. Therefore where the riparian owners have fee to shore only, and the bed of the stream is vested in the state, an island formed by accretion belongs to the state and not to the riparian owner, and when by accretion [reliction] such an island is attached to the mainland, the owner of the shore is not entitled to the island but only to such alluvion as formed from his land”.[22]  The land located north of Sections 12-15 can claim reliction to the south gradient boundary of the current channel of the Prairie Dog Fork.

Figure 6. Proposed solution for the apportionment of the accreted and relicted lands on the Prairie Dog Fork of the Red River. (2015)

Using a combination of the perpendicular method (SF-8524) and extension of property line method (Sec. 11-15) of apportionment of accretions along a navigable stream would be the fairest and equitable to all affected riparian owners. [23] [24] [25] [26] This would grant title to the riparian owners in Sections 11-15 of the Poitevent Surveys approximately 1,930 acres of land from reliction through the Doctrine of Accretion. (solid bold lines in Figure 6) The state could possibly retain approximately 18 acres from the bed of the Little Red River through these sections through the Small Act validation of land patents which were granted crossing a navigable stream[27] only if excess is found within the original land grant save the area of reliction. (divided line in southern area of sections in Figure 6) Goat Island (SF-8524), which is still owned by the state, would be granted title to an additional approximate 475 acres of land from alluvium through the Doctrine of Accretion. (area located north of previously located SF-8524 on Figure 6) Since Goat Island is now classified as a part of the Public School Land through the vacancy filing[28], the current occupants of said land may be able purchase or lease[29] from the state through a desire to purchase public school land now that it is connected through reliction to the mainland. The aforementioned approximation of acreage was estimated from satellite images for reporting purposes only. For an accurate description of the area, an on-the-ground survey would need to be performed.

(After consideration, the Commissioner of the Texas General Land Office agreed with this summary and released an official letter that the State of Texas had no interest land between the original surveys and the river thus would remain in the interest of the private property owners who have had it under occupation.)

References

[1] Gradient Boundary as defined by Col. Stiles in the Texas Law Review (1952) Vol. 30 Pp. 306-322.

[2] Baker, T. L. (1998). The Texas Red River Country: The Official Surveys of the Headwaters, 1876. First Texas A&M University Press.

[3] Fetter, C. W. (2001). Applied Hydrogeology, 4th edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Pp. 338-342.

[4] Fetter, C. W. (2001). Applied Hydrogeology, 4th edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Pp. 338-342.

[5] Monroe, J. S. (2015). The Changing Earth: Exploring Geology and Evolution with the Geology of Texas, 7th edition. Cengage Learning, Boston, Massachusetts.  Pp. 301-304.

[6] Fetter, C. W. (2001). Applied Hydrogeology, 4th edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Prentice-Hall, Inc.

[7] Vernon’s Texas Codes Annotated, Sec. 21, Natural Resource Code, Title 2, Surveys and Surveyors.

[8] Town of Refugio v. Heard (Civ. App. 1936) 95 S.W. 2d 1008, reversed in part 129 Tex. 349, 103 S.W. 2d 728.

[9] Acts of the Republic of Texas of 1837.

[10] Vernon’s Texas Civil Statutes, Title 86, Article 5414.

[11] VTCA, Sec. 21.001

[12] Maufrais v. State (Sup. 1944) 142 Tex. 559, 180 S.W. 2d 144.

[13] Fannin District Scrip file no. 9583, Texas General Land Office archives.

[14] Vara – Spanish vara is the official unit of measure for the State of Texas. One vara is exactly 33-1/3 inches. (VTCA Sec. 21.041 & 21.077)

[15] Vacancy is defined as an area of unsurveyed public school land. (VTCA Sec. 51.172.6)

[16] SF-8524, Texas General Land Office archive files.

[17] SF-11071, Texas General Land Office archive files.

[18] Ely v. Briley, 959 S.W. 2d. 723, 726 (Tex. App. Austin, 1998)

[19] Skelton, R. (1930) The Legal Elements of Boundaries and Adjacent Properties. The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis, Indiana, Pg. 331.

[20] Parole evidence by P. Hancock and J. Rapp. (2015)

[21] Skelton, R. (1930) The Legal Elements of Boundaries and Adjacent Properties. The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis, Indiana, Pg. 332.

[22] Skelton, R. (1930) The Legal Elements of Boundaries and Adjacent Properties. The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis, Indiana, Pg. 334.

[23] Skelton, R. (1930) The Legal Elements of Boundaries and Adjacent Properties. The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis, Indiana, Pp. 338-340.

[24] Simpson, J. (2005) River & Lake Boundaries: Surveying Water Boundaries – A Manual, Second Edition. Plat Key Publishing Co., Kingman, Arizona. Pp. 202-204.

[25] U.S. Department of the Interior. (2009) Manual of Surveying Instructions: For the Survey of the Public Land of the United States. Bureau of Land Management. Denver, Colorado: Government Printing Office. Pp. 210-212.

[26] VTCA. Ch. 21.012.

[27] VTCA. Ch. 21.012.15

[28] VTCA. Ch. 51.172.6.

[29] VTCA. Ch. 51.173.

Republished from Edge of the World - an online blog about the adventures of cadastre science. 

Jennifer: Luck is a fickle creature, I was just lucky to get into surveying.  I have a degree in civil engineering and started out in that field.  The company I was working for at the time had both an engineering and surveying department, turned out surveying was what I enjoyed and my amazing bosses at the time created a position to foster my growth in surveying.  The rest is history! 

TSPS: Why did you join TSPS?

Jennifer: One of those amazing bosses, Craig Alderman was a huge supporter of the TSPS.  He was the reason that I joined and I have enjoyed networking with my Chapter.  I hope to be an influence on future young surveyors in the industry as he and the other fantastic surveyors I have worked with have been to me.

TSPS: What is your most memorable surveying moment?

Jennifer: I have several, but my most memorable occurred my first week on the job when I was sent to the field with Craig to search for corners. If you knew him you know he was tough on trucks and that day was no exception...we drove as close as we could to corners (we didn't have ATVs then), but when the mirror snapped up against the glass of my window after hitting a tree at a pretty good clip, my thought was "What have I done, this man is crazy!?!", I look over and he's just smiling at my distress! I was amazed at how he actually could find a stone mound with witness tress on the side of mountain covered with stones and trees! I've been fascinated with the surveying field ever since. Fast forward a few years later and I am driving that same truck up the side of a mountain to my base point with my dad acting as my rodman. I look over at him and he says "Jenn you should be able to see the ground out of more than just the rear window." I was rolling, laughing, I guess it's the Circle of Surveying!

Jennifer's Favorites:

Color: Red and Black (can you guess where I went to college)
Food: Barbacoa Tacos from La Fogata in Andrews, TX (everyone should try them)
Animal: Horses or Dogs, it's a toss up
Singer: Reckless Kelly or Turnpike Troubadours
Hobbies: Horseback Riding

Jennifer is currently the TSPS Chapter 10 - Permian Basin President and works for Gateway Services Group in Midland, TX.

 

 

Consider the main three goals of the program:

1. Public awareness of our profession through education;
   
2. Public awareness of our profession through the media;
   
3. Public awareness of our profession through public service
   

The education of the public, both adult and youth, is probably the number one goal of National Surveyors Week. The work we perform for the benefit of the public often goes unrecognized and we need to share our knowledge with them. The work being done by our Trigstar volunteers is incredible and should be highlighted during National Surveyors Week. There are volunteers doing outreach to Boy Scout and Girl Scout groups and resources are available for these programs. We can expand on this and offer to speak to the local Rotary or Lions Club. They are always willing to have a speaker at their meetings. How better to promote your profession and your business than to make a public appearance?

Reaching out to the public through the media and making them aware of our profession and our role in today’s society is a goal whose value we all recognize. Over the last few years we have achieved this in a variety of ways including Presidential, gubernatorial, and municipal proclamations, newspaper articles, and radio spots highlighting National Surveyors Week. There is also a a National Surveyors Week Facebook page and a National Surveyors Week Twitter hashtag. Each of these channels represents another way for the land surveying community to stay connected with a different section of the public.

Although the annual effort of contacting the President, members of Congress, your governor and your municipal leaders may seem trivial, remember that it serves to remind them that surveyors are important. It is an essential part of our awareness campaign and serves as an introduction to our senators and representatives when we visit them on the hill. Whenever a bill, law or ordinance is being contemplated which affects the public and impacts on our profession, these elected officials should know who to turn to for answers to their questions.

Newspaper articles, radio advertisements, and on line media can serve the same function for our profession, keeping us in the public eye. Rather than being hidden behind an attorney, title agent or real estate agent, we can use the media to highlight the value of our profession with our most important constituency our clients. The best way to get an article about surveying published in a newspaper is to contact a local reporter and let them know that you have a good lead on a community interest story. If that fails to attract their attention offer to write one yourself and submit it to the paper. State societies, society chapters and even private firms have written or sponsored articles or public service announcements which serve as advertising for our profession and their businesses.

In his inaugural address on January 20, 1961, President John F. Kennedy poignantly said “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country”. It is with this attitude in mind that we should attempt to give back to our nation and our profession and lay the groundwork for the future. We can lament the passing of the geodetic field parties of the past and the disappearance of the NGS monuments, or we can embrace the future, share our expertise and volunteer for a common cause. In doing this we can prepare the foundation which future surveyors and the public will turn to for their geodetic positioning. It will help us hone our skills and keep us current  on changes in our own practice.

Republished/edited from a 2015 article

TSPS has submitted a proclamation request to Governor Abbott for National Surveyors Week, March 15th - March 21st, 2020.  

Every twelve years the Texas Board of Professional Land Surveying is reviewed by the Sunset Advisory Commission (SAC). The Sunset Commission staff will evaluate TBPLS over the next several months, make recommendations and publish a staff report. The Sunset Commission Members will review the report and hear public testimony before making recommendations to the full Legislature. During the 2019 Legislative session, the fate of TBPLS will be decided - continue with improvements, be consolidated or potentially abolished.

Due to the pending review, it is imperative to raise funds for SurPAC so that we can make timely contributions to SAC members. Historical data suggests that the Legislature acts overwhelmingly in conjunction with the SAC recommendations and several SAC members are in contested battles for re-election. Strong support from SurPAC will make clear that the TBPLS must remain funded.

SurPAC has immediate needs of raising $40,000 for this effort. Everyone is encouraged to contribute to SurPAC, but we are relying heavily on those in leadership roles to set the example. All Surveyors stand to be impacted by the SAC recommendations and potential changes to our regulatory body. However, business owners may be impacted most, and we are asking you to contribute to our latest fundraising effort. 

SurPAC is searching for a coalition of individuals willing to pledge $500 each towards this campaign. We are asking for immediate pledges from 20 people to build a $10,000 fund. The pledge fund will be used to match contributions from other TSPS members and double the fundraising effort. The matching funds will be calculated on those individual contributions received on or before July 1, 2018.  Those contributors who make the donation of $500 or more will be recognized in our publications, unless requesting to remain anonymous.

Please help SurPAC continue to promote and protect the surveying profession by completing this donation form and returning it to the TSPS office. It is important to remember only personal checks can be accepted and any donation amount is greatly appreciated.

With Sincere Gratitude,

Travis Tabor, RPLS
SurPAC Committee Chair
t.tabor@lndsgn.com

John: In a cold Ohio November with a foot of snow on the ground, I started as a chainman. Frozen toes and hands were thawed by joining the Air Force, where I was trained in surveying and drafting. I made it to south Texas by way of Germany and this area has been my home for years now. I have enjoyed learning our profession from some of the best surveyors in San Antonio. The interconnection of our history with surveying is fascinating and I continue to be amazed at facts that are uncovered. 

TSPS: Why did you join TSPS?

John: I joined TSPS long ago to attend the surveyors’ rodman training that was offered by the society. As I moved up the ranks and continued my training, I attended a class or seminar now and then. I more recently became involved at a higher level due to my desire to give back to the profession and help keep it vibrant and growing. I believe that TSPS is a valuable asset to our profession and a huge part of our continued success.

TSPS: What is your most memorable surveying moment?

John: I have prepared a few boundary surveys along the historic San Antonio Riverwalk. The amount of research that went into these projects was incredible. Following the chain of title back one hundred or more years taught me quite a bit about the history of our city.  Surveying an entire city block and beyond was usually the standard in order to come up with a resolution. A whole range of situations were addressed, party walls, different monuments called for on neighboring deeds, and the fact that the City of San Antonio actually owns the river within the downtown area.

John's Favorites:

Color: Blue
Food: Pizza (no not pizza hut or papa johns)
Animal: Dog
Singer: Led Zeppelin and Stevie Ray Vaughan
Hobbies: Travel

Photos:

Above: John participates in a historic survey demonstration on the Alamo grounds
Right: One of John's favorite places to visit - Breckenridge, CO

John is currently the TSPS Chapter 11 - Alamo Representative and works for TGD Surveying LLC in Garden Ridge, TX.

James: I was in engineering design with TxDOT from 1959 until retirement in 1993; I learned a lot concerning linear survey layout, etc. I did hand drafting for surveyors as a part-time job from 1971 until the CAD era. I was registered as a RPLS in 1983 and surveyed on Saturdays until I retired from TxDOT, after which a started my own business, Knox & Associates, and have been operating a sole proprietorship ever since. I suppose my training started my interest in the surveying profession as well as a love for the history of the progression of land ownership and the stories of how the "old timers" worked and accomplished the work.

TSPS: Why did you join TSPS?

James: I wanted to learn more about our profession and experience the camaraderie that surveyors enjoy.

TSPS: What is your most memorable surveying moment?

James: Over the years, because of extensive farming, a great percentage of original monuments have been lost or obliterated....when one is recovered and matches the record monument description, the adrenaline starts flowing. The witness trees for most of these are gone, due to extensive logging, but still, some are occasionally found. I have found some unusual monumentation: a.50 cal octagon rifle barrel, old bed rails, sections of railroad rail, shaped bois d'arc  and pine-knot states, wagon thimbles, etc.

James's Favorites:

Color: Blue
Animal: White-tailed deer
Singer: Buddy Holly
Hobbies: Coin collecting (I am president of the Texarkana Coin Club) and flint knapping

ISSUE PRESENTED:
Whether a land surveyor performing a routine land title survey falls below the standard of care when the surveyor incorrectly identifies the correct species of a tree identified on the land title survey.

SHORT ANSWER:
Yes. Although the standard of care would not otherwise require the species of a tree to be identified on a land title survey, the misrepresentation of the tree species subjects the land surveyor to liability if the owner reasonably relied on the misrepresentation of the tree’s species to his detriment.

ANALYSIS: 
Whether a land surveyor fails to meet the duty of care depends on the type of survey performed. The reasonable degree of care about the identification of the species of a tree required for a “land title survey” varies from the reasonable degree of care required for a “tree survey.”

The violation of the standard of care is a question of fact for the trier of fact (ie., jury, judge, arbitrator, etc.). Two surveys of the same parcel of land can have great variations and inconsistencies between them, but this does not conclusively prove one land surveyor failed to exercise the requisite degree of reasonable care.

Land surveyors may be held liable for damages resulting from inaccurate surveys if they fail to perform their services with a reasonable degree of care and skill. Dennison, Mark S., Surveyor’s Liability for Negligent Performance of Land Survey, 59 Am. Jur. Proof of Facts 3d 375 (Originally published in 2000). See, Smith v. Herco, Inc., 900 S.W.2d 852 (Tex.App.—Corpus Christi 1995), writ denied, (Oct. 5, 1995) and reh'g of writ of error overruled, (Nov. 2, 1995).

The common-law duty of care imposed on a land surveyor requires a surveyor to “exercise a reasonable degree of care in the performance of their work . . . [and] may generally be defined as the level of care that a surveyor of ordinary skill and prudence would exercise under the same or similar circumstances.” Id. 
The standard of care for a “land title survey” requires only that the land surveyor locate trees on lines of possession and boundaries. Minimum Standards Detail Requirements For ALTA/NSPS Land Title Surveys Minimum Standards Detail Requirements For ALTA/NSPS Land Title (Effective February 23, 2016).1 Land title surveys do not require a land surveyor to identify trees on a survey unless “specified in the contract . . . [or] deemed by the surveyor to be evidence of possession . . .” Id. 

In contrast, “tree surveys” require data on “tree locations, trunk diameter and species.” Austin, Texas – Environmental Criteria Manual, §3.3.2 (A)(1)-(3).2 A tree survey should correctly identify the tree at the species level; however, it is also acceptable to identify the tree by its common name. Id. A land surveyor must do more than locate a tree to satisfy the standard of care for a “tree survey” because such survey requires identification of tree species or type. 

CONCLUSION: 
The best practice for a land surveyor performing a “land title survey,” therefore, is to avoid identifying the species of tree unless specified in the contract or deemed by the surveyor to be evidence of possession. If the land surveyor chooses to exceed what is required by the minimum standard of care and identify a tree’s species, and does so incorrectly, the land surveyor likely is subject to liability for negligent misrepresentation if the owner reasonably relied on the identification. In a “tree survey,” the species must be accurate, or the land surveyor likely falls below the standard of care.

_______________________________________
1 See, http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.nsps.us.com/resource/resmgr/ALTA_Standards/2016_Standards.pdf 
2 See, https://library.municode.com/TX/Austin/codes/environmental_criteria_manual?nodeId= 
S3TRNAARPR_3.3.0TRSU

As the evening winded down and after a hearty meal of finger foods and sufficient refreshments, I was approached by Dr. Gary Jeffress, R.P.L.S. about a trip to China to promote the Texas A&M Corpus Christi masters and PhD program to students at Wuhan University.  Sarah Yang, R.P.L.S. graduated from Wuhan University with a bachelor’s degree in Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. He commented that it would be beneficial for Wuhan Students to understand the value of her Wuhan Degree and its acceptance as a qualified degree in Texas, as well as learn about surveying in the USA from a Texas R.P.L.S. graduated from their alma mater.  He inquired if I can sponsor Sarah’s travel expenses to attend the one week conference in the City of Wuhan. Thus, a unique opportunity to promote Texas surveying and the Texas A&M Corpus Christi graduate program across the ocean to a group of eager students was born at the TSPS convention.

Dating back to 1893, Wuhan University offers over 756 degree programs for students and is considered to be a world-class comprehensive research university domestically and internationally. It is equivalent to an Ivy League University in the United States. Wuhan University’s School of Geodesy and Geomatics is well respected in the Asian academia circle and has over 2,700 students enrolled.  It offers bachelor, master, and PhD degrees in surveying and mapping related studies.  Dr. Ruizhi Chen, formerly endowed chair and professor of Texas A&M Corpus Christi Geographic Information Science, has moved back to China.  He is currently the Director and Professor at the Key State Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping, and Remote Sensing at Wuhan University.

In December, 2016 Sarah Yang, R.P.L.S., Dr. Gary Jeffress, R.P.L.S., and Dr. Guoqing Zhou of Texas A&M Corpus Christi arrived in the City of Wuhan.  It is the most populous city in central China with a population of over 10 million people.  The dynamic trio spent time informing students on surveying in the United States, the unique aspect of Texas surveying, licensing requirements, and the education and career opportunities available in the United States. The purpose of their trip was to build a collaborative education relationship between the two universities. The two professors explained the need for qualified Chinese educated surveyors and geospatial scientists to join the Texas A&M Corpus Christi master and PhD programs.

Sarah, speaking in her native tongue, offered the students first-hand experience on life in the United States.  She recalled her experience at Wuhan University and discussed her immigration to Texas and adapting to a completely different language and culture.  She also talked with students about her first surveying job, a day in the life of a professional surveyor in the United States, and surveying Texas style. Sarah explained the process of obtaining professional license and various surveying career paths available to graduating students. Students were eager to learn more about the possibilities and intrigued by the difference in surveying in China versus the United States. She took time to discuss the Texas land system, measuring units in the United States, surveying regulations, and the State Plane Coordinate System, all which differ from surveying in China.

Dr. Gary Jeffress, R.P.L.S. and Dr. Guoqing Zhou spoke to students in an organized lecture to promote the graduate program at Texas A&M University Corpus Christi. The professors discussed ongoing research at the University and the different degree programs available. They also educated students on the various career paths available after graduation from the Geographic Information Science Program at Texas A&M University Corpus Christi.

“My trip back to Wuhan University, after graduating 25 years ago, was very exciting and rewarding. The City had changed tremendously and the infrastructure had been improved and transformed into a more modern and busy metropolitan area. I was surprised by the School Of Geodesy and Geomatics proactive approach to connect itself with universities from all over the world.  The school hosts lectures and workshops to provide students with the most up-to-date information on technology and opportunities. In addition, the school works diligently to recruit the finest scholars and professors to join their university. The students we interacted with were eager to learn about surveying in Texas and showed passion and ability for expanding their knowledge in their field. This entire trip was rewarding to not only the students but also for me, and Drs. Gary Jeffress and Guoging Zhou.” said Sarah Yang, RPLS.

This trip to China to promote Texas surveying was a success and very beneficial for both Texas A&M University Corpus Christi and Wuhan University. The students and faculty members at Wuhan University had a unique opportunity to hear and see Texas surveying from well-respected professors, two Texas R.P.L.S.’s, and a classmate returning from overseas. Surveying education is universal without boundary lines.

TSPS: How/why did you get into surveying?

Jonathan: It was a little bit of a curvy path. Heeding my Dad’s advice, I found a job at a surveying firm in College Station while going to school. While working with Dante at Carlomagno Surveying for about 5 years, I began to develop a love for the profession. After finally graduating, I decided to pursue my PE license while working on land development projects in Austin. Having done engineering for a while, and not too long after getting my PE, I decided that surveying was really what I wanted to be doing, and the rest is history.

TSPS: Why did you join TSPS?

Jonathan: I began to get involved with TSPS once I was back into surveying full-time. TSPS is highly important to our profession. From keeping tabs down at the legislature to putting on the convention, symposium and other educational opportunities as well, the benefits are pretty obvious. However, the biggest thing that I personally get out of TSPS are the relationships that I have developed with other surveyors around Austin and also the state. It’s nice to be able pick up the phone and call someone that you may know of that has had experience with a particular challenge you’ve come across at work.

TSPS: What is your most memorable surveying moment?

Jonathan: It’s hard to come up with just one, but my favorite memories are when you come across some old boundary evidence that helps substantiate your analysis. I can recall a time when we were surveying a large tract on the west side of Lake Travis. Using a scattered rock mound we found that I believed could possibly be a patent corner, we were able to establish the east line of this tract, which ended up being about 15 feet east of the occupied fence line. Upon further investigation on this tract covered thick with cedar, we found remnants of an old fence line and additional boundary evidence to support what we believed to be the boundary.

Jonathan's favorites:

Color: Maroon of course
Food: Craft Beer
Animal: Black Angus
Singer/band/group: Stevie Ray Vaughn/Ryan Bingham/Lucero/Jimmy Buffett
Hobby: Hunting, Coaching my kid’s 5th grade football team… It’s fun to watch those kids develop & grow up together

Jonathan is currently the TSPS Chapter 13 - Capital Area President and works for BGE, Inc. in Austin, TX.

• Do I need a drone? 
  
• Can it help me be more profitable, or is it a deep money pit? 
  
• Can I use a drone to help better serve my clients? 
  
• Are drones the hope for the future, or just a hope with no promise?  
  
• A drone for surveying and mapping looks complicated; where do I start?  

The decision whether to use drones in your business can be complex. There are dozens of drone manufacturers, and dozens of types of drones, from small inexpensive units to large octopus like giants. The drone is just the platform for carrying many types of sensors; color cameras, infrared cameras, LIDAR units, thermal sensors and many more. The software to operate a drone is getting easier and simpler to use, but the software used to make proper survey grade map products is increasingly complex. There are some drones sellers who say you need only a spend a thousand dollars or so to start, others say it will cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars. And, what about all those complex FAA regulations? 

One of the most daunting issues faced by the new drone owner is the complexity of Governmental Regulations. For the past ninety years or so, flying aircraft in the National Airspace System (NAS) has been regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Whether flying for general recreation, carrying people for hire, or hauling freight, the FAA regulates how the aircraft users are expected to operate. FAA regulations have worked very well to the benefit of all who fly. The US airspace, while the busiest in the world, is also the safest in the world.

In 2007 the FAA recognized that the age of commercial drone use was dawning.  Technological advances in miniaturization of computers, communication equipment, navigation systems, etc. sparked the advancement of drone technology.  With the help of experts from industry, academia and government, the FAA has developed regulations for the safe use of commercial drones.  On 29 August 2016, the FAA released small UAS (drone) rules called, 14CFR part 107; or simply “part 107”.  This 620 page document details the regulations, rules and accepted operating procedures for the safe and legal operation of drones for commercial work. 

From the very beginning of the drone “boom” many surveying and mapping professionals have had visions of drones becoming a less costly, and more convenient way of collecting airborne imagery/data.  For decades these professionals have relied on the expertise of aerial surveying companies to provide photogrammetrically produced maps for a wide variety of geospatial applications.  New companies are now coming into the market offering professional drone mapping services for the surveying profession.

So here we are, there are dozens of drone systems and sensors now available, a new set of regulations and hundreds of thousands of aviation novices wanting to use UAS for commercial work. Surveying professionals are now asking questions like: 

• Does this technology make sense for my business?
  
• Can I make money using UAS?
  
• What map products can be produced using a drone?
  
• Should I hire an experienced service provider or do the work myself?
  
• Where do I get help?

The Texas Society of Professional Surveyors  2017 Annual Convention and Tech Expo will feature Mr. George Southard teaching sessions focused on drone technologies for the surveying and mapping profession. Mr. Southard is an independent geospatial consultant specializing in the airborne mapping and surveying marketplace.

 * The use of the term “drone” in this article is for clarity sake, the more precise and proper term is Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS). The FAA uses term UAS when referring to aircraft that fly without a pilot on board. The public/press use the term drone for all unmanned, although, a drone is technically an unmanned military aircraft.

TSPS: How/why did you get into surveying?

Kenneth: My step mom owns a Land Title Insurance Company in Tulsa and was able to use her influence to get me a summer job as a teenager with a Tulsa Land Surveying firm. When I went back to school at the University of North Texas (go mean green) at some point I decided that Land Surveying and my pursuit of a Geography Degree would go very well together. I was able to get work experience while getting my degree in Denton with a couple of local surveying companies. 

TSPS: Why did you join TSPS?

Kenneth: I got laid off in 2007 and was able to quickly find a job through the classifieds in TSPS’s Texas Surveyor publication. I have been a thankful active member since then. I’ve enjoyed building my professional network, learning more about Land Surveying, and keeping current on issues affecting our profession.

TSPS: What is your most memorable surveying moment?

Kenneth: The most memorable surveying moment is the day (June 18, 2014) that my good friend, Jeffrey Peebles, and I opened our Land Surveying Company for business. God has blessed us with multiple great clients, 12 wonderful employees, and plenty of work. I am looking forward to continuing to grow the company and see where we end up going forward.

Kenneth's Favorites:

Color: Mean Green

Food: Barbeque

Animal: Hippopotamus

Singer/band/group: Norah Jones

Hobby: Going to sporting events with my lovely wife

Kenneth currently serves as 1st Vice President for TSPS Chapter 2 - North Central Texas and is the President of Yazel Peebles & Associates LLC in Bedford, TX.

TSPS: How/why did you get into surveying?

Jose: Surveying has always been a crucial element for the civil engineering profession and a prerequisite for many, if not all, civil engineering projects. As such, I’ve been involved with surveying since my civil drafting career began in the late 90’s. As my career shifted and matured from drafting to civil engineering, it became apparent that pursuing the SIT certification and the subsequent RPLS license were the next steps for my career. Thank you to all the people that support my career endeavors.

TSPS: Why did you join TSPS?

Jose: TSPS gives me the opportunity to be a part of a great organization.  I enjoy meeting people and learning from attending seminars. TSPS has certainly given me the opportunity to meet other professionals and learn from their experiences. At the end of the day, it’s the fellowship that matters to me and I’m glad to be a part of TSPS.

TSPS: What is your most memorable surveying moment?

Jose's favorites:

Color: Maroon and White!

 Food: Texas BBQ

 Animal: Dogs

 Singer/band/group: Classic Rock

 Hobby: Skeet & Fishing - The Outdoors

Jose currently serves as 1st Vice President for TSPS Chapter 19 - Rio Grande Valley and is the President/Project Manager at Delcon Logistics, LLC in Mission, TX.

House Bill (HB) 106 (Sponsored by Rep. Armando "Mando" Martinez | Rep. Ryan Guillen | Rep. Cesar Blanco)
Relating to certain images captured by unmanned aircraft.

- Voted on by the House.
- It’s companion bill SB 840 (Sponsored by Sen. Judith Zaffirini) identical to HB 106 was voted on by the Senate, then by the House and is now waiting on action by the Governor.

HB 352 (Sponsored by Rep. Andrew Murr | Rep. Paul Workman)
Relating to the procedure by which a state agency may issue an opinion that a watercourse is navigable.

- Did not reach the House floor for a vote

HB 1325 (Sponsored by Rep. Poncho Nevarez)
Relating to the application of the sales and use tax to certain services involving real property (including land surveying services); our so called “sales tax” bill.

- Did not reach the House floor for a vote.

HB 2343 (Sponsored by Rep. Paul Workman ӏ Rep. Charles Anderson ӏ Rep. Jason Villalba)
Relating to prerequisites to asserting certain claims arising from certain construction defects. This bill included surveying in the definition of “construction defect” and included surveyor in the definition of “Design Professional.”

- Did not reach the House floor for a vote.

HB 3352 (Sponsored by Rep. Garnet Coleman)
Relating to civil penalties against subdividers of land.

- Left pending in committee.

Senate Bill (SB) 71 (Sponsored by Sen. Judith Zaffirini)
Relating to transfer of certain state real property (bed of San Marcos river within corporate limits of the City) to the City of San Marcos.

- Was not voted out of committee.

SB 127 (Sponsored by Sen. Donald Huffines)
Relating to internet broadcast of TBPLS meetings.

- Was not voted out of committee.

SB 627 (Sponsored by Sen. Charles Schwertner | Sen. Brian Birdwell | Sen. Konni Burton | Sen. Charles Creighton | Sen. Bob Hall | Sen. Donald Huffines | Sen. Lois Kolkhorst | Sen. Robert Nichols | Sen. Kel Seliger | Sen. Judith Zaffirini)
Relating to notice of a property owner's rights relating to the examination or survey of property by an entity with eminent domain authority.

- Passed the Senate but did not reach the House.

TBPLS was granted the one-half FTE as requested and the approved budget provides the needed funding for that position. TBPLS is therefore fully funded for the coming biennium although the agency must contribute about $12,000 per year toward its budget. That money will come from its online seminars and possibly additional cost saving measures.

The Sunset Review process for TBPLS has begun. Tony Estrada, Executive Director and his staff are preparing a report due to the Sunset Commission by September 1, 2017. The Legislature left our licensing board alone this past session; there were no efforts to consolidate, defund or kill it, but next session could be different. The sunset review process and the resulting Sunset Commission report will be critical going into the next regular legislative session in January 2019. TSPS will be assisting TBPLS with the process as much as possible.

TSPS: How/why did you get into surveying?

JT: I had just graduated from the University of Texas at Dallas and was looking for a job. A college friend of mine was working for a title company that was owned by a fellow fraternity brother. I reached out for an IT position, which is what I went to school for, and the owner mentioned he had a CAD position available for his survey firm. At that point I had only taken one semester of AutoCAD drafting in high school, but decided to take the job anyway, telling myself it would be temporary so I could continue my job search in the field that I studied. Over a decade later, I’m an RPLS and living the good life!

TSPS: Why did you join TSPS?

JT: I was searching for new job opportunities and a friend of mine suggested I come to a TSPS meeting to see if anyone was hiring. I attended my first meeting and found it to be very valuable, both in helping the general public understand all that surveying entails and for meeting fellow professional colleagues. Ultimately, I was able to network and found a new job. I feel that TSPS is a great resource and provides a general forum to ask professionals for their honest opinions regarding surveying.

TSPS: What is your most memorable surveying moment?

JT: There are a couple:

1. Surveying in the freezing rain / fog and having to wipe down the lens of the “robot” every few minutes.
2. Crawling through a ravine trying to locate corners and finding out that we were in the thick of poison ivy country
   

JT's favorites:

Color: Lavender
Food: Tacos/Pizza ie. SNL- "Taco Town"
Animal: Liger, it's like a lion and a tiger mixed, bred for its skills in magic.
Movie: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
Singer/band/group: Lionel Richie / Queen / The Lonely Island
Hobbies: Reading, my book club thinks I’m neat! I also like to get engaged with my local community. I’m a member and chair of the Frisco Young Professionals (FYP) and a class member of Leadership Frisco. FYP is a group of like-minded, successful individuals that are interested in helping their community become an attractive and dynamic place for young professionals to engage in professional, personal, and civic development. The purpose of Leadership Frisco is to develop a pool of qualified, highly motivated individuals who are interested in expanding their leadership skills, deepening their sense of civic responsibility, and becoming more involved in their community as a whole.

JT currently serves at the 1st Vice President of TSPS Chapter 5 - Dallas and works at Cobb, Fendley & Associates in Frisco, TX.