SURVEYOR MINUTES

THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2008

MULTNOMAH COUNTY, PORTLAND, OR

Attendance:  Tom Hamilton, Bob Hovden, Chuck Pearson, Randy Johnston, Jim Elam, Steve Thornton, Chuck Gibbs, Gary DeJarnatt, Linda Rigutto, Mike Berry, Dan Linscheid, Joe Jensen, Dan McNutt, Dan Boldt, Jerry Floyd, Jim Clayton, Scott Okell.

Meeting began at 9:45 am:

In the surveyor’s meeting, discussion ensued regarding the upcoming NACE conference in late April.  Early registration ends January 30.

Approval of October Minutes--Reviewed minutes from October meeting—approved.

New Legislation—Tom Hamilton brought up issues regarding conflicts between utilities and survey monuments. Discussed 1’ law (HB 2713). This bill makes amendments to ORS 92.010, 92.044, 92.090, and 92.175, with effective date of January 1,2008.

Jim Elam discussed what they do in Washington County. He passed out copies of “Engineering Design for Survey Monuments” handout drawn by Paul Galli at WRG Design. Chuck Pearson suggested distributing this to concerned parties. Dan Linscheid started further discussion regarding utility infrastructure not being allowed within 1’ of survey monuments. Tom Hamilton asked if 1’ begins from offset monument or true corner in cases where corner monumentation is offset from true corner. The bill revision to ORS 92.044 (7) states “Utility infrastructure may not be placed within one foot of a survey monument location noted on a subdivision or partition plat”.

Washington County is also requiring the developer’s engineer to certify that no utilities will be placed within the easement, including no field changes allowed.  Enforcement will be problematic, but more likely non-existent. It was pointed out that this has the potential to save the developer money, especially if a two feet easement is enacted, as this is more in line w/ utility locating requirements.  Wasco County has informally adopted a two foot easement.  Top of curb monumentation was also revisited, and may be more justified now.  It was also noted that one parcel partitions are now legal. The one parcel partition was also included in House Bill 2713 and made amendments to ORS 92.010 (7).

Chuck Pearson indicated that the $10 recording fee dedicated for public land corners is not going to cover his corner program and suggests that future legislation include changing ORS 203.148. Revenues from the recording fee are down significantly. Bob Hovden and Jim Elam indicated that $5 is adequate to cover their corner programs, but most Counties charge the full $10, as their corner programs require the full fee. Chuck Pearson indicated that he would like to see a change to the law which would allow the fee to be established as required by the governing body, rather than have a set maximum. A number of counties may be forced to lay off some of their remonumentation crews in a few years due to an approximately 30% reduction in recordings.

Condominium Reviews—Tom Hamilton brought up problems he has been having coordinating condo plat reviews with Laurie Skillman at the State Real Estate Agency. Others in attendance indicated that they have no problems, and that Skillman only requires a copy of the final plat that has been signed by the private Surveyor and executed by the declarant. Tom indicated that he would like to get out of the business of reviewing condo plats altogether, and only checking monumentation, etc.

Chuck Pearson suggested getting Laurie Skillman to attend an OACES meeting to discuss her review process and coordination with County Surveyors.

There was further discussion regarding accepting work for review that is stamped “Preliminary” versus accepting work stamped “For Review Only”. Chuck Pearson and others indicated that they would not accept work stamped “Preliminary” because it compromises their ability to go after a Surveyor in the event of a complaint to OSBEELS.

Original Plat Surveyor to Complete Remaining Monumentation—Bob Hovden and Chuck Gibbs brought up issues regarding getting original Surveyor to set remaining monumentation. Accepting affidavits of remaining monumentation from Surveyors who have lost their license, possibly without stamping the affidavit was discussed. Tom Hamilton and Linda Rigutto suggested that language in the affidavits be altered to indicate a Surveyor set the remaining monumentation, rather than stating that they were the original Surveyor on the plat in cases where remaining monumentation was done by someone other than original plat Surveyor. Discussion of the occasion of a private surveyor not being allowed to finish the pos-monumentation of a project, for one reason or another.  In those cases the county may cause the work to be completed, and the affidavit of monumentation may be done by the replacement surveyor. Much agreement for the need to have large post-monumentation deposits.

Jim Elam discussed instances when Surveyors fail to submit a final survey for filing in cases where a survey was initially submitted for review, but no monuments were set. Bob Hovden indicated that he was under the impression that the Attorney General’s opinion was that a Surveyor is required to submit a final survey for filing once the survey is initially submitted for review. Chuck Pearson suggested changing the statute to compel a Surveyor to file a final survey if it was submitted for review. Bob Hovden indicated that once a survey is submitted for review, statutes require resubmittal within 30 days whether monuments were set or not.

Tom Hamilton suggested that ORS should be changed to require field inspection of partition plats. Mike Berry indicated that his county has an ordinance allowing field checks for partition plats.

How are County Surveyors Reestablishing PLSS Corners?—Mike Berry discussed setting PLSS corners using coordinates from GPS ties on monuments that have been subsequently destroyed. The monument was reset, retied with GPS, and the coordinates came out slightly different than the original tie. Should the new coordinates be published? Most agree that if within a couple of hundredths, it was close enough to be the same.

Potpourri—Dan Linscheid brought up the practice of construction companies using GPS controlled excavation equipment without a Surveyor or Engineer supervising.

Dan Linscheid announced that PLSO conferences will be held in January starting in 2010, and OSBEELS license renewal fees will increase to $180. He also discussed issues with displaying OSBEELS law enforcement cases on their website before the cases have been resolved. He also discussed efforts in hiring another OSBEELS investigator.

Chuck Pearson discussed a situation where a public land corner had been properly established, but the BLM came in later and proportioned the corner in and would not recognize the previously established corner. Other Surveyor’s discussed similar situations in their Counties. This will be revisited in a future meeting.

Surveyors will meet April 24, not at NACE, maybe at Clackamas Sunnyside facility. Chuck Pearson will set up the location.

Everyone should have received the info on Laurie Skillman from last November which Linda Rigutto forwarded.

Meeting adjourned at 12:40pm.