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VOLUME XXXIX January 2010 ISSUE I
The Treasure State Surveyor (USPS 018-913) is published quarterly by Kay McDonald, 101 Jensen Road, Columbia Falls, MT 59912. Subscription to The Treasure State Surveyor is $5 per issue (included in annual membership fee).
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to MARLS, Kay McDonald, 101 Jensen Road, Columbia Falls, MT 59912.
The Treasure State Surveyor is not copyrighted and articles may be reprinted with due credit. The Montana Association of Registered Land Surveyors assumes no responsibility for statements made or opinions expressed in this publication.
Editor: M. Andrew Stensrud Technical Assistance: Kay McDonald
MARLS (The Montana Association of Registered Land Surveyors) is a statewide organization of professional land surveyors licensed to execute land surveys in the state of Montana and dedicated to improving the quality of professional land surveying and land records in the state of Montana. Our motto is:
“WE MEASURE UP”
Advertising Information:
Enclosed for your consideration are the rates for advertising space in the Treasure State Surveyor.
Sustaining members of MARLS receive a discount on their advertising. A sustaining member is an individual or institution that desires to assist financially in the work of the Association.
Sustaining Member Non-Member Per Issue Per Issue Full Page Ad............... $170 ............ $195 ½ page ........................... 130 ...............145 ¼ page ..............................80 ...............105 Business Card..................70 ................. 95 Back Cover ................... 210 ...............270 Reserved inside front cover .............. 200 ...............245 Reserved inside back cover............... 200 ...............245
Ads should be submitted to: MARLS
Attn: M. Andrew Stensrud PO Box 10685, Bozeman, MT 59719
Phone: 406-585-5301 [email protected]
Advertisers Aero-Metric --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18
Berntsen International Inc ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana -------------------------------------------------------------- 35
Eagle Teleconferencing Services-------------------------------------------------------------------- 7
Frontier Precision Inc--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15
Inland GPS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21
Lewis and Lewis ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2
MARLS Marketplace--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 33
MT LiDAR ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12
Missoula Blueprint Company ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 20
Selby’s Essco ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 40
Spencer B. Gross of Nevada-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7
Trimble --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 39
Table of Contents MARLS Board of Directors and Committee Chairs--------------------------------------------------- 4 President’s Message --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 MARLS Mission Statement ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6 Support Sustaining Members ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6 MARLS Life Membership Information ----------------------------------------------------------------- 7 LS & PLS October 2009 Exam Results ----------------------------------------------------------------- 7 Continuing Education Evaluation------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7 A Friend of MARLS and a Friend of Mine------------------------------------------------------------- 8 Latitude Pier Dedication ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9 Get to Know Your BOD -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13 MARLS Proposed Bylaws Amendment -------------------------------------------------------------- 14 Development in Montana Title Law, Volume IX, Issue 3------------------------------------------ 16 Perception ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20 Indemnification or “Hold Harmless” ------------------------------------------------------------------ 22 For Sale: Breakfast on the Bighorn prints & Random Point print --------------------------------- 23 MARLS BOD 12-3-09 Meeting Minutes ------------------------------------------------------------- 24 MSF Scholarship for 1st & 2nd Year Students Announcement ----------------------------------- 32 MARLS Membership Application--------------------------------------------------------------------- 34 MARLS 2010 Conference Registration ----------------------------------------------------------- 36-38
4 TREASURE STATE SURVEYOR
PRESIDENT Kurt Luebke
3203 Russell Street, Missoula, MT 59801 Phone: 406-721-4320 Fax: 406-549-6371
PRESIDENT-ELECT Peter Olson
PO Box 729 Culbertson, MT 59218 Phone: 406-787-5215 Fax: 406-787-5215
VICE-PRESIDENT Toby Dumont
PO Box 1750, Missoula, MT 59806 Phone: 406-728-1880 Fax: 406-728-0276
SECRETARY-TREASURER Joe Kauffman
393 Valley View Drive, Kalispell, MT 59901 Phone: 406-755-9233 Fax: 406-755-9235
PAST PRESIDENT Craig L. Brown
1118 Pin Avenue, Bozeman, MT 59718 Phone: 406-539-3436 [email protected]
NORTHWEST CHAPTER PRESIDENT
Jamie Reed 2 Village Loop, Kalispell MT 59901
Phone: 406-755-6481 Fax: 406-755-6488 [email protected]
WESTERN CHAPTER PRESIDENT
Craig Schaeffer 3011 Palmer St., Missoula, MT 59808
Phone: 406-542-8880 Fax: 406-542-4801 cschaeffer@m -m.net
SO. CENTRAL CHAPTER PRESIDENT
Dan Stahly 7585 Shedhorn Drive, Bozeman, MT 59718 Phone: 406-522-9526 Fax: 406-522-9528
CENTRAL CHAPTER PRESIDENT Jonathan Ries
PO Box 2201, East Helena, MT 59635 Phone: 406-227-8844
SOUTHEAST CHAPTER PRESIDENT Robert Rux
1028 N 22nd, Billings, MT 59101 Phone: 406-656-6399 Fax: 406-656-6398
NO. CENTRAL CHAPTER PRESIDENT Stephen Babb
622 Alice Drive, Great Falls, MT 59405 Phone: 406-268-1188 Fax: 406-268-1189
SOUTHWEST CHAPTER PRESIDENT Carl Russell Kluesner
PO Box 162, Lima, MT 59739 Phone: 406-276-3486
NORTHEAST CHAPTER PRESIDENT Charles (Mike) Madler
218 Little Street, Glendive, MT 59330 Phone: 406-480-0734
BOARD OF REGISTRATION Tom Stark
PO Box 5653, Helena, MT 59604 Phone: 406-447-5000 Fax: 406-4447-5036
CST PROGRAM Carl Russell Kluesner
PO Box 162, Lima, MT 59739 Phone: 406-276-3486
CPC EVALUATION Robert Rux
1028 N 22nd, Billings, MT 59101 Phone: 406-656-6399 Fax: 406-656-6398
GEOMATICS ADVISORY COUNCIL Warren Latvala
PO Box 197, Clyde Park, MT 59018 Phone: 406-686-4759
HEALTH INSURANCE John Cicon
PO Box 541, Chester, MT 59522 Phone: 406-292-3531 Fax: 406-292-3531
HEIGHT MODERNIZATION Steve Niday
1409 Cooper St., Missoula, MT 59802 Phone: 406-258-3878 Fax: 406-258-3978
HISTORICAL & SCHOLARSHIP Bill Weikel
PO Box 7847, Missoula, MT 59807 Phone: 406-721-2182 Fax: 406-543-4220
LEGISLATION Robert R. (Rick) Gustine
271 Lower Rainbow Rd., Bozeman, MT 59718 Phone: 406-587-5407 Fax: 406-587-5408
MONTANA LAND INFORMATION ADVISORY COUNCIL
Rudy Cicon PO Box 541, Chester, MT 59522
Phone: 406-292-3531 Fax: 406-292-3531 [email protected]
NSPS & CONTINUING EDUCATION
Debra C. Anderson 414 North Weaver St., Belgrade, MT 59714 Phone: 406-587-4545 Fax: 406-587-7676
WESTERN FEDERATION CONTINUING ED
GEOMATICS ADVISORY COUNCIL Samuel R. (Dick) Smith
PO Box 7323, Kalispell, MT 59904 Phone: 406-257-4323 Fax: 406-756-8002
SCHOLARSHIP Bill Weikel
PO Box 7847, Missoula, MT 59807 Phone: 406-880-2183 [email protected]
STANDARDS OF PRACTICE - BYLAWS
Shannon Marinko 376 Milestone, Bozeman, MT 59714
Phone: 406-580-1078 [email protected]
TREASURE STATE SURVEYOR
M. Andrew Stensrud PO Box 10685, Bozeman, MT 59719
Phone: 406-585-5301 [email protected]
TRIG-STAR
Randy W. Thomas 3142 S. 66th Street W., Billings, MT 59106 Phone: 406-896-5134 Fax: 406-896-5295
WEST FED Linda Smith
1050 Jensen Road, Columbia Falls, MT 59912 Phone: 406-758-5369 Fax: 406-758-5379
ADMINISTRATIVE SECRETARY MEMBERSHIP CONFERENCE
Kay M. McDonald P.O. Box 359, Columbia Falls, MT 59912 Phone: 406-892-4579 Fax: 406-897-2519
MARLS WEBSITE www.marls.com
MARLS 2009 - 2010 Board of Directors
MARLS Committee Chairs
About the cover... Artwork by
James A. Flansburg, PLS
Jim’s art is for sale. He specializes in bronzes,
ink sketches and watercolors.
James A. Flansburg 3495 Cathy Court,
Missoula, MT 59803
Phone: 406-543-6835 The artist reserves
all rights on the cover.
January 2010 5
Dear MARLS Membership, It is hard to believe this is my fourth and final message to the MARLS membership. This year went by in a flash and when you read this it will be 2010. I have really enjoyed my year as your president. My goals have been to be as involved as possible with the issues that affect all of us, listen to the concerns of every member, represent this organization with professionalism and strive for involvement from all chapters. I hope that my tenure met with your approval. I will truly cherish my experience! You should have received your conference packets by now. The priorities and goals among the Board of Directors and the 2010 Conference Committee was to keep costs down and offer a wide variety of speakers and forums. I believe that the members of the Central Chapter -- as well as Kay McDonald -- have successfully accomplished just that. We are able to offer diverse learning choices at the same conference enrollment costs as our 2008 Conference. With the status of the current economy this is very good news. I look forward seeing everybody in Helena and if you don't know me, please introduce yourself -- I really enjoy meeting new people. The 2009 edition of the BLM Manual has finally hit the printing press and we all are anxiously waiting to see what's new. Mike Birtles and Jim Claflin will be presenting a short overview of the new manual at conference. MARLS has stepped up and pre-purchased over 100 of the new manuals at a savings of over $50 per manual. For those who pre-ordered through Kay you will be able to pick them up at conference and avoid shipping costs. The MARLS Board of Directors will have their spring meeting in June 2010 in Medora, North Dakota. Our incoming president, Peter Olson, suggested the meeting place as a small retreat destination and as an eastern location for a one-day membership seminar. The seminar will be a more in-depth look at the 2009 BLM Manual and an opportunity for us to bring forth our questions about the new manual. Medora is the old summer retreat for Theodore Roosevelt and the location of the North Dakota Badlands which offers many family-fun activities. We will be holding the seminar in conjunction with the North Dakota Society of Professional Land Surveyors. This should be a good opportunity for the eastern surveyors to get additional PDH credits without driving across our great state, while giving those on the western side of the state an opportunity for a mini-vacation. I am looking forward to attending and hope to see many of you there as well. Many of us have struggled through a very rough year financially, with projects and clients being very obscure. Hopefully our country is heading in a more positive direction and we will soon be complaining about too much work. I wish you all a very happy and prosperous New Year! Sincerely,
Kurt Luebke MARLS President
MARLS 2010 CONFERENCE PRE-CONFERENCE SEMINAR FEBRUARY 24, 2010
MARLS CONFERENCE FEBRUARY 25 & 26, 2010
Great northern hotel, Helena, Montana
SIGN UP TODAY!
FOR REGISTRATION
INFORMATION SEE PAGES 36 - 38
6 TREASURE STATE SURVEYOR
MONTANA ASSOCIATION OF REGISTERED LAND SURVEYORS MISSION STATEMENT
PREAMBLE: The true merit of a profession is determined by the value of its services to society. Therefore, the Montana As-sociation of Registered Land Surveyors does dedicate itself to the promotion and the betterment of the profes-sion of land surveying as a social and economic element vital to the welfare of society. The objectives of the association are:
♦ To promote the common good and welfare of its members and the public in the profession of land sur-veying.
♦ To advance the study of land surveying and the education of land surveyors. ♦ To promote public knowledge, faith, and reliance in licensed professional land surveyors and their
work. ♦ To foster and maintain high standards of professional ethics in the practice of land surveying. ♦ To foster and support legislation generally beneficial to the profession and to the citizens of the state of
Montana.
♦ To promote closer relations, understanding, and cooperation within the profession. ♦ To establish better relations between the land surveyor and other professions interested in land survey-
ing. ♦ To aid and encourage the interest of associate and student members of the association.
♦AERO-METRIC 12652 Interurban Ave. So., Seattle, WA 98168
♦ALLEN PRECISION EQUIPMENT 1550 Boggs Road, Duluth, GA 30096
♦ASSURANCE RISK MANAGERS 2851 S. Parker Road, Suite 760, Aurora, CO 80014
♦BERNTSEN INTERNATIONAL, INC. PO Box 8670, Madison, WI 53708
♦BLEND'S COPY SHOP 509 First Ave. North, Great Falls, MT 59401
♦BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD OF MONTANA Roger Olson - PO Box 190, Chester, MT 59522
Robert Benson, 510 W. California St., Kalispell, MT 59101
♦ESI POSITIONING 119 Morey Place, Greensburg, PA 15601
♦Frontier Precision, Inc. 2020 Frontier Drive, Bismark, ND 58504
♦FUGRO HORIZONS, INC. 3600 Jet Drive, Rapid City, SD 57703
♦INLAND GPS P. O. 1525, Cody, WY 82414
♦MISSOULA BLUEPRINT CO. 1613 South Ave. West, Missoula, MT 59803
♦MT LiDAR 2 Village Loop, Kalispell, MT 59901
♦SELBY'S ESSCO P. O. Box 1875, Billings, MT 59103
♦SPENCER B. GROSS, INC. 5301-A Longley Lane #11, Reno, NV 89511
♦SURV-KAP Box 27367, Tucson, AZ 85726
♦TRIMBLE 5475 Kellenburger Road, Dayton, OH 45424
January 2010 7
Are You a MARLS Life Member?
MARLS LIFE MEMBERSHIP QUALIFICATION
MARLS Life Member 1. Any person who has reached the age of sixty
(60) years and who has been an Active Member in good standing for at least fifteen (15) years shall be a Life Member.
2. Any person who is or who has been a Licensed Professional Land Surveyor in the State of Montana for a minimum of twenty-five (25) years and who has been an Active Member of the Association, in good standing, for at least fifteen (15) years may apply for Life membership. Approval of such application must be given by a majority of the Board of Directors.
PLEASE CONTACT KAY MCDONALD
MARLS ADMINISTRATIVE SECRETARY IF YOU QUALIFY FOR A MARLS LIFE
MEMBERSHIP
Have your seminar, workshop or video taped presentation evaluated and pre-approved by the MARLS CPC Committee. Land Surveyors will need
30 PDH’s for each two year licensing cycle. Recording of PDH’s on your continuing education transcript at FVCC is available.
For further information ~ or to request a form contact: MARLS, Kay McDonald, Adm. Secretary PO Box 359, Columbia Falls, MT 59912 Phone: 406-892-4579 Fax: 406-897-2519 Email: [email protected] Available on web at www.marls.com
Please note: $30.00 processing fee required
EAGLE TELECONFERENCING
SERVICES For more information:
Tel. 212-758-3283 E-mail: [email protected]
Fax: 212-758-3453 60 East 56th Street, New York, N.Y. 10022
Spencer Gross
PICKUP
First Name
Last Name City State Zip Lic No
LS Daniel Ries Helena MT 59602 18368
LSI Barron Parks Billings MT 59102 19573
MARLS extends CONGRATULATIONS to the newest Montana Licensed
Land Surveyors, Engineer Surveyors and Land Surveyor Interns
(Passed October 2009 Exam)
8 TREASURE STATE SURVEYOR
Berntsen ad 1/2 page PICKUP from OCTOBER 2009 issue
I read with acute interest, and more than a little dismay, the announcement in the October issue of the TSS of the
changing of the guard at Inland GPS. Indeed I had to call Glenn to verify that my assessment was correct. Alas, it was.
I guess I first met Glenn Borkenhagen (“Borky” to those that know him) back in 1994, before he became the voice of the “GP&S Hotline.” He had come to Bozeman to demonstrate for me the fine nuances of operating a total station he had earlier sold to a local engineer I had since gone to work for. He demonstrated the topo functionality by placing coins at random points in the parking lot, then demonstrated the stakeout function by locating and collecting his coins.
Over the years, I have come to regard Glenn as one of the most intelligent and professional people I have ever met. And his sense of humor is unsurpassed. Since my introduction to GPS, he has always been (albeit reluctantly) my “go-to-guy,” there to answer every dumb question imaginable. I have to admit that, at times, I’ve had to endure the abuse of being reminded that I’m “a licensed professional who ought to know the subject matter,” or be told that something was “so easy, girls can do it,” (which I never regarded as sexist).
Glenn once confessed his fear of leaving a legacy of a bunch of surveyors who knew just enough about GPS to [inflict great damage on society] (brackets are a paraphrase). That may explain his diligence at manning the hotline, and never failing to return my calls.
One of the greatest honors ever bestowed upon me was when Glenn told me that he considered me a friend.
I can say, without reservation, that Glenn’s service will be missed. In my opinion, Glenn has contributed as much to MARLS members as anyone else who readily comes to mind. I wish you the very best, Glenn, and would only caution you not to spend too much time at peopleofwalmart.com. Thanks for your years of service and support.
Gratefully yours, Paul Cook
A Friend of MARLS and a Friend of Mine
By: Paul Cook, PLS
January 2010 9
I , the Latitude Pier, have been sitting here in solitude over 110 years with my corners slowly decaying and my
mortar falling out from between my bricks. However, the Spokane Courthouse, in all of her grandeur, received so much attention by so many craftsmen providing the loving care to refurbish her appearance and structural integrity. I understand a check, appropriated through the legislature for over 1.6 million dollars was gifted to Spokane County to accomplish many of the revitalization improvements. Not that I am envious, but my triviality compared to the courthouse would indicate my future appears ill-fated.
I didn’t know what was going to happen to me, being just a small pile of brick and mortar with a concrete top, surrounded by grass under a large Maple tree and sitting in the shadow of the courthouse. I didn’t think anyone even remembered my significance of so long ago until this fine gentleman; Mr. Jim McLefresh took not ice and began investigating my history in 2007.
The significance of his scrutiny didn’t become apparent until late summer of 2009 when my restoration work began. Oh what a wonderful day it was when the craftsmen came and started my renovation. Before I emanate my gratefulness for restoration, I will share an account of my significant contribution to the
northwest. It all began in 1807 when our President, Thomas Jefferson passed a law to initiate surveying of the coasts of states and territories by a department called the U.S. Coast Survey. In 1878, d u e t o t h e extensive surveys not only of the coasts but interior lands the name of that department changed to the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey
(USCGS). They were charged with 3 tasks: 1) Control all of the charts that were published; 2) Furnish Latitude, Longitude, Astronomic Azimuths, Elevations and Distance between known points; 3) Determine the shape and size of the earth.
It is difficult for me to comprehend the magnitude of effort this would entail. However, efforts began in about 1846 to establish points or Longitude Piers across what we now call the United States in accessible populated areas. The Longitude Pier, my sister pier, was established on Spokane County Land in 1888 only 67.4 feet from where I stand now. We were constructed very similar in nature and I am sure she was very impressive in significance as a survey monument set by the USCGS at the time. Unfortunately for her and fortunate for me, the Spokane County Courthouse was built in 1895 and rendered her useless for astronomic observations.
If you can imagine, 1896 is a very busy time in history of Spokane for growth and it is an exciting city. It is a central
location for commerce being a railroad center, new settlers are arriving on the Railroad, a new dam has been built on Spokane River and it has been only 7-8 short years after Montana, Washington and Idaho have been admitted to the Union. Mr. S.S.Gannett from the USCGS came to Spokane in August of that year and realized a new Latitude Pier need to be established due to the new courthouse obstructing all possibilities of astronomic observations. I guess I could say he instigated my existence. Craftsmen built me and then Mr.
Gannett established my Latitude by using a Fauth combined transit and zenith telescope, taking 59 observations on 27 sets of stars on different nights.
On June 4, 1897, in Washington DC, monies were appropriated to issue a contract for the establishment of a portion of the Idaho-Montana Boundary. Six days later Mr. E.T. Perkins, Jr. was on his way from Washington DC to Spokane. By the way, he was told to stop by Boise to arrange for transportation of equipment. I don’t know about you but is seems to me in those days you didn’t just “stop by” anywhere. The contract was for the following: Identify the intersection of the 39th meridian with the crest of the Bitterroot Mountains for the southern point of beginning; Establish that meridian north to the Canadian Border; Prepare topography maps and field notes; and brush line and monument the boundary at approximate 1 mile intervals. All of this work of course needed to have mathematical closure and the simple means for that was through triangulation.
Over the next 3 years a combination of Mr. Gannett and a helper, Mr. Perkins, with a cook, a packer and a field assistant, and Mr. D.L. Reaburn a transit man, with a recorder, two rodmen, two packers, three axmen and a cook, proceeded to fulfill the contract. During that time there were extreme
(Continued on page 10)
Latitude Pier Dedication Spokane, WA
11-5-09 By: Walter O. Dale, PLS
10 TREASURE STATE SURVEYOR
difficulties and challenges to be met or just survive. The location of the boundary line is about 70 miles east of Spokane and then 72 miles north to the Canadian Border.
During the first year from the latter part of June to October 1st, 1897, a 3 month season, Mr. Perkins crew establish 15 triangulation stations, starting at my position and establishing a 5 mile baseline by precise and accurate chaining along the RR tracks 2.5 miles east of Spokane; Identify the Mooyie Trail Monument on the Canadian border 8.5 miles west of the Montana-Idaho boundary. This monument was to be used to identify the border. They observed 9 of the triangulation stations. Obviously they had to build towers or some type of sights in order to perform their triangulation observations.
During the summer, observations were impossible some days due to smoke and the snow levels stopped them from ascending to the triangulations stations by October 1st. However, they established two stations, “Divide” and “Scotchman”, near what they believed to be the intersection of the 39th meridian and the crest of the Bitterroot Mountains.
During the winter of 1897-1898 Mr. Gannett took all of the notes to California and performed calculations, using least squares adjustment, beginning at my published location and established geodetic positions of their nine points. This must
have been a very laborious and tedious task with log tables and a slide rule. Obviously that’s why they went to California for the winter. During this effort they discovered that “Divide” was found to be 6072 feet east of the Montana-Idaho boundary and “Scotchman” was 7842 feet west of the boundary. Bummer, distances like those are a long, long way on the crest of the Bitterroots!
During the second year operations were under way again in June and extend to October 31st, 1898, a 4 month season. Mr. Perkins’ crew continued observing triangulation stations northward to close out to Mooyie Monument. It was determined that the north end of the line was too timbered and lack of significant high points to establish a station near the end. The second crew led by Mr. Gannett and Mr. Raeburn began by running a traverse from “Divide” west to locate the exact point of the meridian crest intersection. On July 11th Mr. Raeburn’s crew commenced running his random line north to the border. Conditions of the terrain were very difficult with heavy timber, steep slopes, and few roads or trails. A pack train was provided, however they were forced to cut out trails, and make long detours to get camps close to line. They finished near the Canadian Border in extreme weather conditions. The snow was 21/2 feet deep and the crew narrowly escaped being snowed in without provisions. The horizontal and vertical measurements were taken using stadia and astronomic observations were taken when possible. Over the course of 72 miles they covered 63,000 vertical feet with an average site distance of 350 feet. There were 1050 traverse stations and 17 azimuth stations. This is a pretty impressive undertaking for 3½ months work.
During the winter of 1898-1899 all of the calculations for the triangulation were performed and adjustments to the stadia work accomplished. Another mathematical bust was detected and it was determined that the random line started 177 feet too far east. Tables were prepared showing the corrections for all traverse points so that true line could be established before the start of the 3rd field season. All of the topographic features were plotted along with the generation of contours.
During the third year operations were under way again in mid June and extend to October 5, 1899, a 31/2 month season. Mr. Raeburns’ crew re -measured the north 96 points of the line
(Continued from page 9)
(Continued on page 11)
January 2010 11
with a chain due to lack of triangulation stations. This chain data was used to calibrate the stadia data for the entire project. They cut a swath along true line and set monuments along the way. In addition they need to secure additional topographic data to fill in their mapping efforts. There are four 10”x 10”x 72” granite monuments quarried in Medical Lake, WA set. There are eighty-nine 4” diameter x 72”wroght iron pipe with brass caps also set along the boundary and 72 miles of swath cut through the forest. Once again, this is an impressive effort for a mere sum of $7650.00 for the total contract.
So as you may perceive, my role as a Latitude Pier is very essential in northwest history as the initial point for this tremendous effort of an essential boundary. Therefore, it is imperative I recognize Mr. Jim McLefresh for taking notice of me. During my renovation, he was instrumental in acquiring craftsmen to donate their skills, businesses to donate materials, and infusing interest in the Inland Empire Chapter and Historical Society of the Land Surveyors’ Association of Washington to donate funding. He also made sure county surveyors were present to accurately replace my top. I do not understand his statement quoted as “I just want to save the Sucker”, however I am sure it was with affection.
For years I sit in solitude and deterioration with very little interest by anyone, except an occasional surveyor using my Bench Data information. Now on November 5, 2009, I have been honored by a dedication ceremony, side by side with the magnificent court house, where dignitaries came from near and far and applauded. The surveyor dignitaries of Montana, Idaho and Washington were there. Many other surveyors were there too, to make sure everyone could see my significance to their heritage, by displaying pictures, books of log tables, a slide rule and the progression of their field equipment. One of them even spoke during the ceremony on my behalf. Thank you to all who were a part of my glorious day.
I will stand proudly, dressed in new brick and brilliant mortar, surrounded by a beautiful walkway anointed by the directions of a compass, and wearing a beautiful brass plaque explaining one of my purposes for the whole world to see. References: Dept. of Interior Bulletin US Geological Survey No. 170 1900 Idaho and Montana Boundary Line National Geographic Magazine Vol. 11, 1901
(Continued from page 10)
Gary Briant, PLS ISPLS President Elect Jim Main, PLS LSAW Past President
Jim McLeFresh Spokane County Kurt Luebke, PLS MARLS President
Todd Pocock, PLS IEC LSAW President Walt Dale, PLS LSAW Historical Society
12 TREASURE STATE SURVEYOR
LiDAR PICKUP Pick,up from October is-sue
January 2010 13
In an effort to help you, the MARLS general membership, become better acquainted with the leaders of your organization, the Treasure State Surveyor will feature this informative profile each year. While the Association becomes very visible every winter during the annual conference, remember that these individuals volunteer their time year-round to give us all a strong presence in the state. Please continue to support them by attending your chapter meetings, and offer constructive criticism when asked. Until then, I hope you enjoy this chance to GET TO KNOW YOUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS! Jonathan Ries, PLS Board position: President of The Central Chapter For how long have you been surveying, and when did you become a Land Surveyor? Surveying for 15 years – became a professional land surveyor in 2006 For what company do you work, and in which city? TRIPLE R SURVEYING, INC. - HELENA Do you concentrate in a particular specialty of the profession? Boundary disputes. Have you lived anywhere else before Montana? No What other jobs, if any, have you worked before becoming a Land Surveyor? Teacher, Farmer/Rancher and Title Examiner Who or what inspired you towards a profession in Land Surveying? My Father, Stephen Ries, has inspired me to be a surveyor. Who or what has been the biggest motivation along the way? My Family has been the biggest motivation for me. What do you think are the greatest immediate and future threats to the land surveying profession? The rights of the land owner are being taken away. From where can support for the profession be gained, now and in the future? In education is the key for all knowledge for now and in the future. What do you feel MARLS can and should do to aid this support and suppress these threats? MARLS is and can do more in guiding the law makers with the rules and laws in the State of Montana. Would you tell us a little about your family? I have a Beautiful wife (Beth) and 4 gorgeous children.
How do you enjoy spending free time? I like spending my free time with my children What else would you like the members of MARLS to know about you? I like to read a good book and drink a cold beer before I go to bed. I wish. Lastly, but certainly not least, Go Cats or Go Griz? Go Cats and Griz.
vvv Joseph L. Kauffman Board position: Secretary / Treasurer For how long have you been surveying, and when did you become a Land Surveyor? I have been working in the land surveying field for 17 years, I received my license in 2001 For what company do you work, and in which city? I own my company, Big Sky Surveying in Kalispell, MT Do you concentrate in a particular specialty of the profession? Mostly Boundary work, Topographical, & Land Division. Have you lived anywhere else before Montana? No, I have been raised my entire life here and am raising my family here a well. What other jobs, if any, have you worked before becoming a Land Surveyor? I had worked at the Flathead National Forest Service in the GIS department, and before that I was a pizza delivery boy. Who or what inspired you towards a profession in Land Surveying? No one in particular. When I started college I did not know what I wanted to do so I took my basics, a forestry class and a survey class. I enjoyed the challenge of the survey class and decided to follow that path. Who or what has been the biggest motivation along the way? I think the biggest motivator for me today is the service that we provide as professionals to the public. I like helping people accomplish what they need or want to do with their property. What do you think are the greatest immediate and future threats to the land surveying profession? I think the number one problem is surveyors who do not treat this as a professional service to the public. From where can support for the profession be gained, now and in the future? I think we as members of MARLS do an excellent job as far as standing up for the rights of the profession. What do you feel MARLS can and should do to aid this support
(Continued on page 14)
Get to Know Your MARLS Board of Directors
14 TREASURE STATE SURVEYOR
and suppress these threats? Continue to get more involved with chapter meetings, Trig-Star, annual conferences, legislative etc. Those that get involved help to keep the profession alive. Would you tell us a little about your family? I married my high school sweetheart ( Kimberly) one year after graduation. We waited about 10 years to start a family. We now have been blessed with four children, Josiah 7, Amber 5, Hannah 3, and Teagan 1. They all keep us very busy. My wife and I have been together now for 20 years. Our home has been the Flathead Valley.
How do you enjoy spending free time? Spending time with the kids watching movies, playing x-box, playing legos, reading stories, Outdoor activities we enjoy are boating, hunting, fishing, and flying. What else would you like the members of MARLS to know about you? I like Beer, “A” Lastly, but certainly not least, Go Cats or Go Griz? No preference, we like baseball. Go Boston Red Socks!
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Montana Association of Registered Land Surveyors Bylaws Amendment proposal to clarify voting status of
National and Regional Representatives (for MARLS General Membership Meeting February 25 & 26, 2010)
Where As: The MARLS National Society of Professional Land Surveyors governor and West Federation of Professional Surveyors delegates are representatives and not committee chairpersons.
Whereas: The current Montana Association of Registered Land Surveyors bylaws are silent regarding the voting status and method of selection for representative on the MARLS Board of Directors.
Where As: The MARLS National Society of Professional Surveyors Governor and the MARLS Western Federation of Professional Surveyors delegates are MARLS representatives that act upon and develop issues that are of national and regional importance and may have a direct impact upon the Montana Association of Registered Land Surveyors interests.
Where As: The majority of the member states of the Western Federation of Professional Surveyors consider representatives as voting board members.
Where As: Voting Board members generally take a more active role in board affairs.
Where As: MARLS interests would be better served by encouraging board attendance and participation of representatives through the exercise of voting rights.
Where As: Representatives need to be thoroughly involved in MARLS board affairs in order to best represent MARLS at national and regional levels.
Where As: A change of the MARLS bylaws is required to clarify and correct these inconsistencies.
Where As: MARLS expends considerable money to fund representation at regional and national levels.
ARTICLE 2
Corporate Powers
Section 1. That the corporate power of this corporation shall be vested in a Board of Directors who shall be Active, Fellow or Life members in good standing, comprised of the President of each chapter, with the exception of the President of Student Chapters, , and a President, President-Elect, Vice-President, Secretary/Treasurer and Representatives to be elected at the annual business meeting. All such elections shall be conducted by ballot in conformity with the provisions of the laws of the state of Montana in relation thereto and as further provided in these by-laws. Immediately following a President's term, as such, he/she shall remain as a Board member for one additional year and may not fill another office for that year.
ARTICLE 14
Miscellaneous
Section 1. Representatives. (delete) THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS MAY
APPOINT REPRESENTATIVES FROM THE VOTING MEMBERSHIP, AND ALLOCATE FUNDS FOR SUCH REPRESENTATION, TO ATTEND MEETINGS OF SUCH PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATE ORGANIZATIONS AS MAY BE APPROPRIATE.
(ADD) At the discretion of the Board of Directors, the general membership shall vote for representatives to attend meetings of professional affiliate organizations as may be appropriate. The representatives shall act as members of the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors may allocate funds for such representatives.
MARLS PROPOSED BYLAWS
AMENDMENT
January 2010 15
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Dear Fellow Member of the Montana Land Title and Survey Industries: This Issue addresses forged assignments of interest in a contract for deed, the risks of co-habitation, and easement language so vague as to be unenforceable. 1. Erler v. Creative Finance & Investments, 2009 MT 36 (decided February, 2009). This case has it all: multiple assignments of the seller’s and buyer’s interests in a contract for deed, fraud, forgery, Federal prison time, title insurance claim payouts, and judicial gymnastics to decide who gets left holding the bag. The case concerns a parcel of property in Hamilton. In January, 1986, Osburn sold the property to Donald and Patricia Hill by contract for deed, recording a notice of purchaser’s interest (NPI). In September, 1989, Donald and Patricia Hill sold their buyer’s interest to Raymond and Susan Hill, again per a contract for deed. An NPI was recorded for this sale and the transactions were escrowed together. In 1997, Osburn purported to retain Creative Finance to sell the balance of her seller’s interest in the contract for deed with Donald and Patricia Hill. Creative Finance brokered the sale of that interest to Erler. Erler received a written assignment of contract interest and a warranty deed, supposedly from Osburn, both of which were recorded. This transaction was a fraud, involving forgery by Raymond and Susan Hill, who worked for the escrowee. Erler also signed a quitclaim deed to Donald and Patricia Hill, which was to be held in escrow until the contract for deed was paid off. The escrow was held by Cloverhill Mortgage, an entity controlled by Susan Hill. She fraudulently released Erler’s quitclaim deed to Donald and Patricia Hill and recorded it before the contract had been paid off. In May, 1998, Donald Hill purportedly sold his seller’s interest in the 1989 contract for deed with Raymond and Susan Hill to Questa Resources. This conveyance involved yet another forgery by Susan Hill. Questa then sold the seller’s interest to McClain. In June, 1999, Donald Hill purportedly executed a quitclaim deed and assignment of seller’s interest in which he sold the same interest in the property to Sherick. Once again, this was a forgery by Susan Hill. The sales proceeds presumably ended up in her pocket. In July, 1999, Erler discovered the fraudulent recording of his quitclaim deed to Donald and Patricia Hill. In December, 2000, the warranty deeds from Osburn to Donald and Patricia Hill, and from Donald and Patricia Hill to Raymond and Susan Hill,
were released from escrow and recorded, presumably by Susan Hill. In July, 2001, Erler sued everybody and sought to quiet title in his name. The parties then engaged in litigation gymnastics, to try to cut through this rat’s nest. In December, 2001, Erler and Donald Hill stipulated to entry of judgment quieting title in Erler as against any claim to the property by Donald Hill. In January, 2002, Erler and Osburn agreed to entry of judgment of quiet title against Osburn and in favor of Erler. Raymond Hill, Susan Hill, and Cloverhill defaulted. In September, 2002, Erler agreed to dismiss Creative Finance. Near the end of the case, only McClain and Sherick remained as defendants. Erler moved for summary judgment. McClain did the same. Sherick opposed both motions on the basis that all documents of conveyance were forged and therefore void. Meanwhile, Erler collected coverage limits on his First American policy for failure of title and McClain did the same on his Old Republic policy. The District Court concluded that the documents of conveyance to all three parties were forged and therefore void ab initio. However, the Court also concluded that Donald Hill and Osburn had ratified the forged conveyances by their subsequent actions and determined that, because Erler was the first to properly record a conveyance, he held title. Sherick appealed. He argued that void deeds never can be ratified, that is, never can be approved and affirmed after the fact by the grantor whose signature was forged. The attitude of the District Court, and the Montana Supreme Court on appeal, was, why not? The Court first cleared away the bona fide purchaser issue. An innocent purchaser of real property who gives value and lacks notice, actual and/or constructive, of impropriety in the conveyance is known as a bona fide purchaser for value and his interest in the property can be preserved even if the deed to him was fraudulently procured. However, the bona fide purchaser enjoys protection only against fraudulent conveyances, not forged deeds -- forgery is one of the few defenses that can defeat the claim of a bona fide purchaser. ¶ 22. The District Court had correctly determined that a forged deed is void and transfers no rights, even if the subsequent purchaser is bona fide. Since the Osburn to Erler, the Hills to Questa, and the Hills to Sherick deeds all were forged, all three deeds were void and transferred no rights and so Erler’s bona fide purchaser status did not save him. Instead, the case turned on the doctrine of ratification. The Supreme Court first noted that, generally, a principal may ratify the forgery of his signature by his agent. ¶ 29. Also in the forged signature context, where a prior agency relationship did
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Developments in Montana Title Law Volume IX, Issue 3
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not exist, the subsequent ratification of the forgery creates the agency relationship. ¶ 30. Thus, a previous agency relationship is not necessary for ratification of a forged signature but, rather, the agency can be implied after ratification. The Court rejected Sherick’s argument that a forged deed can never be ratified: “While acknowledging that void contracts do not legally exist and transfer no rights, we have nonetheless permitted ratification of such contracts. . . . . Forged deeds may subsequently be ratified.” ¶ 37. Faced with the Court’s conclusion that ratification was possible, Sherick had to assert that, in this particular case, the forged deeds were not properly ratified. First, he argued that Susan Hill, the forger, had never received written authority from Osburn to convey the property to Erler, thereby precluding ratification per the statute of frauds. Generally speaking, if an agreement to sell property is to be executed by an agent, the agent’s authority must be in writing. Sherick contended that the statute of frauds authorizes an agent to sign for his principal only when the agent has written authority before the act and that the District Court therefore had erred in concluding that the warranty deed constituted authority for Susan Hill to sell the property. The Court, however, held that the statute of frauds does not distinguish between precedent authorization or subsequent ratification by the owner. Subsequent ratification of an agent’s action can satisfy the statute of frauds if the ratification is in writing. ¶ 41. The warranty deeds signed by Osburn and Donald Hill effected the transfer of fee title from Osburn, the principal, to Susan Hill, the agent. These conveyances were recorded three years after Susan Hill had forged Osburn’s signature on the warranty deed transferring title to Erler. “Although this case involves the unusual scenario where title is subsequently transferred to the offending agent personally, nonetheless, the transfer was in writing.” ¶ 42. The deeds conferred upon Susan Hill as grantee the authority to dispose of the property. “Thus, while Osburn and Donald Hill may not have authorized an actual forgery, their warranty deeds constituted subsequent written authority for Susan Hill to convey the property.” ¶ 42. Sherick next argued that the elements of ratification had not been satisfied. For the principal to ratify the agent’s action, three criteria must be met: (1) the principal accepts the benefits of the act, (2) with full knowledge of the facts, and (3) either the circumstances or an affirmative election indicates the principal’s intention to adopt the unauthorized act. ¶ 43. The Court analyzed the status of the parties in the chain of title. Because certain of the deeds had been voided by forgery, legal title most recently vested in Raymond and Susan Hill because of the warranty deeds. However, Raymond and Susan Hill had defaulted because Susan Hill was in Federal prison and Raymond Hill had been indicted. The Court held that their failure to appear waived their interests in the property and that their inaction had ratified the forged conveyance by Susan Hill since ratification may be presumed by a grantor remaining silent when he should speak. ¶ 44. Moving up the chain, Donald and Patricia Hill were the next link. However, the Hills had waived any interest in the property
by virtue of their stipulated Judgment with Erler. This then led the Court to Osburn. However, Osburn also had waived any interest she had by her stipulated Judgment in favor of Erler. The Court concluded that, by her actions, Osburn had subsequently ratified the unauthorized conveyance by Susan Hill to Erler. Even though Osburn did not sign the Osburn to Erler deed, and at that time did not authorize Susan Hill to execute the deed, and did not even know of the transfer, and did not even know that the warranty deeds had been released and recorded, she knew “the material circumstances affecting the purported transfer of the property by Susan Hill to Erler when she signed the December 2001 stipulation, including the effect of the warranty deed she had signed, and clearly expressed acceptance of the conveyance’s result in ceding title to Erler.” ¶ 47. (Whew!) Furthermore, noted the Court, Osburn had been paid for her interest in the property, thereby accepting the benefit of Susan Hill’s conveyance to Erler. In short, her subsequent actions ratified the forged Osburn to Erler deed. Sherick’s final argument was that ratification could not apply because it prejudiced him as a third party. Section 28-10-213, MCA, provides that: “[n]o unauthorized act can be made valid retroactively to the prejudice of third persons without their consent.” Retroactive ratification is ineffective if it lessens the rights or interests of persons who acquire their interest before ratification of the act. ¶ 49. Sherick asserted that subsequent ratification of the Osburn to Erler deed prejudiced him by nullifying the interest he acquired in the property in June, 1999, by the Hills to Sherick deed. However, held the Court, Sherick was not prejudiced because his interest was invalid even prior to the ratification. He was on constructive notice of the recorded assignment to McClain. “Had Sherick conducted a title search he would have discovered McClains’ record interest, which purported to purchase the same vendor interest Sherick intended to purchase from Donald Hill, and for which he paid. Accordingly, Sherick is not a BFP because he was on notice of a previously assigned interest in the same property.” ¶ 51. 2. Anderson v. Woodward, 2009 MT 144 (decided April, 2009). It has been fashionable for some time to co-habitate, not get married, and buy real property as joint tenants, which our parents told us not to do. Also, post-breakup e-mails can come back to bite you. Anderson and Woodward lived together unmarried. They purchased 511 Francis in Glasgow as joint tenants. Anderson paid for the property with $10,000 borrowed from a home equity line of credit on his residence. Woodward cleaned up the property to get it rentable and paid $50 per month towards Anderson’s loan. Woodward also paid the real property taxes. Anderson and Woodward subsequently also purchased 636 Mahon in Glasgow as joint tenants. Again, Anderson paid for the property. Anderson and Woodward separated and Anderson then filed an action seeking the partition of both properties. The District Court distributed 511 Francis to Anderson and ordered him to pay Woodward cash for her contribution to that property. Regarding 636 Mahon, Woodward testified that Anderson had bought the property for her as a gift. She had performed all the work on that property. Anderson denied buying 636 Mahon as a gift. He conceded that
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Woodward had paid property taxes on 636 Mahon until they separated. Post-breakup, Anderson had e-mailed Woodward extensive correspondence including statements that he had bought the 636 Mahon property for her. The District Court determined that Woodward was the sole owner of 636 Mahon because Anderson had gifted it to her. Anderson appealed the 636 Mahon decision. He relied on § 70-20-101, MCA, to support his contention that any transfer of real property by gift or otherwise must be in writing. However, he had sued for partition, which provided the lower court with great flexibility in fashioning the outcome. “The District Court has the power to make compensatory adjustments between the respective parties according to the ordinary principles of equity.” ¶ 16. The presumption is that joint tenants own equal shares of their property. “When a party presents evidence of unequal contribution to an asset, however, the presumption shifts. Evidence of unequal contribution leads to the presumption that the co-tenants own the asset in proportion to their contribution.” ¶ 17. However, the presumption where one contributes unequally to the purchase price does not necessarily apply “where the relationship between the parties indicates that one might have intended to make a gift to the other.” ¶ 17. Evidence of the gift does not have to be in writing -- a party may
establish the gift by parol evidence, such as conduct over time, the relationship between the parties, the sharing of expenses, labor, etc. Here, the Supreme Court affirmed that Woodward had overcome the presumption of joint ownership by proving a gift of the property. The e-mails were the killer: “The e-mails were evidence that the District Court properly could consider in determining whether the relationship between the parties indicated that Anderson might have intended to make a gift to Woodward.” ¶ 24. “The court further determined that Anderson had intended to gift the property to Woodward and that delivery of the property was complete before the parties’ separation when Woodward accepted responsibility for the property and commenced payment of the taxes on the property. The court thus concluded that Woodward had met her burden of rebutting the presumption that the couple held the property equally as joint tenants.” ¶ 25. 3. Holter Lakeshores Homeowners Association v. Thurston, 2009 MT 146 (decided April, 2009). In 1973, the Nelsons established Holter Lakeshores Subdivision on the West side of Holter Lake. Because the proposed subdivision had no road access, the County conditioned subdivision approval upon the Nelsons providing parking and boat docking facilities that were accessible by road for the benefit of the Subdivision lot owners. To satisfy the condition, the Nelsons acquired two adjoining lots four miles North of the Subdivision and on the East side of the lake: a 1-acre lot on the water and a 1.49-acre lot adjacent to it. The Nelsons imposed a Declaration of Covenants on the Subdivision. The Declaration indicated that the developers had acquired property on the lake for parking but did not legally describe this property. The Declaration also provided that lot owners could form a homeowners association once 75% of the lots had been sold and then only if an election was held and 75% of the lot owners voted for formation. The Declaration, on the same topic, also provided as follows: One of the areas of responsibility of the Home Owners Association will be in aiding and working with the Original Owners in regards to an area in Sec. 9, T.14 N.R. 3 W. which area Originals Owners have purchased to be able to assure Lot Owners of future parking spaces under rules and regulations and assessments to be established by Original Owners. ¶ 6. No homeowners association was formed until 33 years later, just before this litigation commenced. Also, there was no evidence in the record of use by any Subdivision lot owner of the two additional parcels purchased for parking and boat launching. In 1992, the Nelsons conveyed the 1-acre and 1.49-acre parcels to Clark by Deed which referenced the Declaration on the Subdivision. The Deed also purported to impose on Clark the obligation “to carry forth in every way the intention of the said covenants and accept the fact that the property described . . . is to be used to provide parking spaces.” The Deed further provided, regarding the 1-acre lot on the lake, that “it has been the intent of Original Owners that a ramp for docking boats would be advantageous to the total facility and that a residence for the Owner or Operator of the total facility would also be
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AERO METRIC
pickup
January 2010 19
located on this parcel along with other development . . . . [The property] may not be sold separately unless safeguards and provisions are provided for the future protection of said Home Owners and the said [Clark] . . . does hereby attest that he will vigorously protect the rights of the Home Owners who are mentioned in the said Covenants, that he will attempt to provide them with a facility which will serve them well and conveniently and fairly and that he will always honor their rights to use the facilities which may be created . . .” ¶ 10. In 1998, Clark conveyed the purported parking/boat launching parcels to Thurston, who then improved the lots at substantial cost. No Subdivision lot owner insisted on a right to use the two lots until 2006. Thurston denied access. The lot owners then formed the Homeowners Association and sued to quiet title for a right to use the lots for parking and lake access. The District Court granted Thurston summary judgment. The District Court reasoned that the Declaration did not create an interest in the lots which the Homeowners Association could enforce. The Court concluded that the language in both the 1992 Deed and the Declaration merely expressed the intentions of the Nelsons regarding use of the lots and use of the lots by Subdivision owners was conditioned on forming a homeowners association. The Court reasoned that these conditions precedent had not been performed and that the 33-year delay between recording the Declaration and the formation of the Homeowners Association barred the Association’s claim. The Montana Supreme Court affirmed the District Court. The Supreme Court held that the 1973 Declaration and the language of the 1992 Deed did not result in an enforceable easement. First, the Declaration itself lacked any legal description of the two lots. Second, while the 1992 Deed from the Nelsons to Clark did refer to the Declaration, and was an attempt to create an easement by reservation, it was too vague to be enforced. A grant of an easement may be subject to conditions precedent. ¶ 22. However, a contract (i.e., an easement) that requires specific performance must be certain in all essential matters included within its scope. “An agreement that requires the parties to agree to material terms in the future is not an enforceable agreement.” ¶ 23. Here, even when a homeowners association has been formed, the Declaration only provided that the Subdivision owners then were to “work with” the owner of the two lots. There was no indication of how many parking spaces were to be located, where they were to be located, or how much of the lot could be used for parking. Regarding the 1-acre lot, the purported easement reservation also states that the lot could be used by Clark as he saw fit. The language in the Deed only vaguely describes some other “facility” which might be built. “The easement reservation language in the 1992 Deed is merely a statement that, if in the future a homeowners association is formed, the association and the owners of the lots will negotiate to see if they can reach an agreement on the terms of an easement. Materials terms of the easement are not agreed upon. The scope and terms of the easement which Nelsons attempted to reserve are too vague to be specifically enforced.” ¶ 27.
4. LeFeber v. Johnson, 2009 MT 188 (decided May, 2009). This is another case about co-habitation, why breaking up is hard to do, and why it doesn’t necessarily matter what the deed says. LeFeber and Johnson lived together unmarried for over 20 years until things fell apart in 2005. By way of background, the parties had been renters until they purchased the subject Montana property in 1994. In December, 1991, LeFeber, a CPA, had granted Johnson a Full Durable Power of Attorney for reasons which are unclear but had something to do with sheltering LeFeber’s oil and gas property income. The POA was revocable by LeFeber. LeFeber conveyed to Johnson his interests in several oil and gas properties after he issued the POA. The revenue came to Johnson in her name and she deposited the checks in a joint bank account. She took the interest on the account and would transfer to LeFeber the principal payments. When the parties separated, Johnson reconveyed these oil and gas properties to LeFeber because she understood that the POA required her to do so (although that looks questionable). In 1994, LeFeber told Johnson that she could pick out a house that she wanted and he would “buy her a home.” They purchased a home in Stevensville. The warranty deed granted the Stevensville property to “Maggie R. Johnson, a single woman as nominee.” LeFeber had inserted the nominee language before closing. Johnson testified that she was unaware of the language and that, after closing, LeFeber never clearly explained his intent about “nominee.” LeFeber would not agree to change the deed to eliminate the nominee language. LeFeber testified that he interpreted the term “nominee” and “agent” as the same thing. LeFeber paid for the property with a cashier’s check which identified Johnson as the purchaser. However, neither LeFeber nor Johnson ever filed a Gift Tax Return with the IRS for the conveyance. Johnson then undertook the work of improving the home and thereby doubled its value. LeFeber paid all of the property taxes. LeFeber insisted that Johnson apply for property tax assistance pursuant to § 15-6-134, MCA, and prepared the applications to the County and had Johnson sign them. Each application represented that Johnson was the sole legal owner of the property. LeFeber revoked the POA in 2005. Johnson refused his request that she sign a quitclaim deed to him for the Stevensville property because she believed that the property had been gifted to her. LeFeber then sued for a constructive trust pursuant to § 72-33-219, MCA. Johnson alleged the failure of any constructive trust and a completed gift. The District Court denied both the claims for constructive trust and gift and determined that each of the cohabitants had an equitable right as tenants in common to the Stevensville property and ordered the deed amended accordingly. The Court ordered the property partitioned by sale and granted each party an undivided one-half interest. The Montana Supreme Court affirmed. The Court held, per Anderson v. Woodward, above, that the District Court correctly concluded that equity should govern the division of the Stevensville property because the facts of the case were not unlike a marital estate. “The District Court properly used
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equitable doctrines to divide the [Stevensville] property.” ¶ 23. LeFeber contended that a constructive trust arose as a matter of law from the deed language to Johnson as “a single woman as nominee.” He claimed that allowing Johnson to retain an ownership interest in the property would cause her to be unjustly enriched. The Court noted that “[a] constructive trust arises when an equitable duty requires a person holding title to property to convey it to another on the ground that the person holding title would be unjustly enriched if the person were permitted to retain it.” ¶ 26. Also, the doctrine of unjust enrichment requires a showing of wrongful acts or misconduct by the recipient. Here, the District Court had correctly determined that LeFeber had failed to prove a constructive trust because of the contradictory ownership intentions” manifested by him. The Court held that LeFeber had “overtly engaged in acts wholly inconsistent with [Johnson’s] role as agent or nominee holding bare legal title to the [Stevensville] property.” ¶ 28. Also, LeFeber had failed to prove unjust enrichment by showing any misconduct or fault on Johnson’s part. Indeed, the District Court emphasized Johnson’s extensive labor over 11 years as additional evidence that she would not be unjustly enriched by receiving a share of the property. Conversely, Johnson had failed to establish a gift of the residence to her. The “as nominee” language had to mean something and Johnson had to know that. However, the District Court had correctly concluded that the evidence did establish that LeFeber had gifted to Johnson at least an undivided one-
half interest in the property. LeFeber had represented to the rest of the world that Johnson was the sole legal owner of the property. LeFeber’s actions were most consistent with an objective view that he had placed the words “Maggie R. Johnson, a single woman” on the deed to assure Johnson that she had rights in the property, and that he had included the words “as nominee” to reserve some rights to himself. Accordingly, LeFeber and Johnson each had an equitable right to the property as tenants in common. LeFeber then contested the even division of the property but the Court held that LeFeber had failed to overcome the “rebuttable presumption that joint tenants own equal shares of the property.” ¶ 36. We will continue to keep you informed of all developments of interest to the Montana title and survey industries. Sincerely, LAW OFFICES OF GREGORY SCHULTZ, P.C. /s/ Gregory G. Schultz GGS/rh LAW OFFICES OF GREGORY SCHULTZ, P.C. 210 EAST PINE STREET, SUITE 200 MISSOULA, MONTANA 59802 [email protected] (406) 543-7259 FAX: (406) 543-0181
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♦ Photographic Reproductions (enlargements or reductions)
♦ Architectural and Engineering Supplies / Furniture
♦ Diazo Printing
♦ USGS & Special Topographic and Planimetric Maps
♦ Digital Topographic Mapping
♦ Plotting and Digitizing Service
1613 South Ave. West Missoula, Montana 59801
(406) 549-0250
MB Perception
Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule. 4 minutes later: the violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk. 6 minutes: A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again. 10 minutes: A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly. 45 minutes: The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32. 1 hour: He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition. No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100. This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities . The questions raised: in a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context? One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made.... How many other things are we missing?
January 2010 21
Inland GPS NEW PDF AD Sent separately
22 TREASURE STATE SURVEYOR
P reventing or reducing liability is an important aspect for the survey practitioner to consider in preparing contracts.
One clause employed to prevent or reduce responsibility for liability damages is an indemnification or “hold harmless” clause.
An indemnification clause or “hold harmless” clause imposes a contractual responsibility for reimbursing the surveyor for liability damages claimed against the surveyor by third parties. Most people have relied upon indemnification in the form of automobile insurance. Automobile insurance shifts the responsibility for liability damages to the insurance company per the insurance contract. An indemnification clause is often and properly used by the surveyor to shift the responsibility to the client for paying damages for a negligent act that should not in fairness be the responsibility of the surveyor.
The employment of an indemnification clause by a surveyor is ideally suited in one of three situations. The first situation is where the client has demanded some reduction of services to save money, time, or both that increase the risk that the surveyor will be liable to a third party as a result of the reduced services demanded by the client. The second situation is where the surveyor must rely on information provided by the client or their agent, contractor, etc. to properly perform surveying services and that information could be faulty. The third situation is where the surveyor’s services are intertwined with services provided by others to such an extent that liability by any one will reflect poorly on the surveyor’s services and may be difficult for a layperson to understand and identify the true source of the fault.
For example, assume a surveyor’s client intends to erect a structure and employs the surveyor to stake out the location of the structure. The client gives the surveyor a faulty engineering plan that the surveyor must rely upon to stake out the structure. The contractor completes half the structure before the mistake in the plan is discovered. The contractor sues the surveyor and engineer for misrepresentation. The surveyor along with the engineer is found liable to the contractor. An indemnification clause in the client’s contract would allow the surveyor to seek reimbursement from the client for the liability damages caused by the engineer’s negligence.
An indemnification clause should be employed in a contract between the surveyor and the client where three factors are present: 1) There is risk of increased liability to the surveyor from third-parties, the client, or client’s agents, contractors, etc. 2) The client stands to benefit from the risk undertaken by the surveyor or the client has caused or increased the likelihood of liability to the surveyor. 3) The client has the assets to cover reasonable and foreseeable damages arising from the risk. (The most meticulous and well-written indemnification clause will not get "blood from a rock" or money from an indigent.)
There are several different forms of indemnification clauses. One form shown by the previous example treats each party the same and shifts the responsibility for liability damages to the party at fault. Another form shifts the responsibility for liability damages to one party regardless of the source of the faulty behavior. The former is generally given unhampered recognition by the courts while the later is critically scrutinized by the courts and often rejected under equitable grounds where there is unequal bargaining power.
The surveyor must avoid signing a contract prepared by the client that shifts all the responsibility for damages, regardless of the source of negligence, to the surveyor. Quite often client-prepared contracts contain one-sided indemnification clauses.
Some states do not allow professionals to employ indemnification clauses that shift the responsibility for damages resulting from professional negligence.
Some professional liability insurance contracts will not cover damages that are shifted to the surveyor under an indemnification clause. Accordingly, the surveyor is cautioned to carefully read an indemnification clause and reject those shifting responsibility for liability that was beyond the surveyor’s control. When employing an indemnification clause in a contract, the surveyor should review the clause with their liability insurance agent.
Indemnification does not remove or diminish liability. It does not prevent the surveyor from being sued or held liable. It is not a defense to a lawsuit nor can it be used to prevent a lawsuit. It merely allows the surveyor to seek reimbursement from the client for certain sources of liability damages the court will hold the surveyor liable. Furthermore, an indemnification clause is ineffective where the client does not have the assets or money to cover the responsibility for damages that are shifted as a result of the indemnification clause.
The surveyor would be wise to consult with their attorney to determine if an indemnification clause will be effective in their
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Indemnification or “Hold Harmless”
By: Knud E. Hermansen†
Indemnity: The surveyor shall indemnify the owner for any and all claims arising out of the work or services performed.
Indemnity: Client and Surveyor each agree to indemnify and hold the other harmless, and their respective officers, employees, agents, and representatives, from and against liability for all claims, losses, damages, and expenses, including reasonable attorney fees, to the extent such claims, losses, damages, or expenses are caused by the party’s negligent acts, errors, or omissions or those of their agents, contractors, sub-contractors, or assignees. In the event claims, losses, damages or expenses are caused by the joint or concurrent negligence of Client and Surveyor, they shall be borne by each party in proportion to their respective negligence.
January 2010 23
state and what language is most appropriate according to their state law. † Knud is a professional land surveyor, professional engineer, and attorney at law licensed in several states. He teaches in the surveying program at the University of Maine and operates a consulting firm specializing in professional liability, boundary disputes, land development, and title issues.
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“Random Point” Prints may be ordered by mail from:
Bill Weikel, Western Chapter PO Box 7847, Missoula, MT 59807
Make checks payable to MARLS Western Chapter
“Breakfast On The Big Horns”
This limited edition numbered color print is available for purchase from MARLS.
Greetings MARLS Members, The MARLS Scholarship Foundation would like to offer you this holiday season numbered prints of the “Breakfast on the Bighorn”.
This limited edition number color print is available for purchase from MARLS Scholarship Foundation. This 250 copy limited edition print has been created from the original painting by Montana artist “Shorty” Shope depicting a Roy Bandy 1912 GLO survey camp. This colorful reflection of surveying in the early 1900’s has previously been seen in the “Tiny” Tillotson survey book.
Copies of the print will be available from MARLS Scholarship Foundation in the following form:
15” X 20 ½ “ print paper for $95.00 plus $13 S&H.
Prints 1 through 15 are reserved for MSF Scholarship auction and special presentations.
All proceeds from sales will go to the MSF “Roy Bandy Scholarship Fund”.
Make checks payable to: MARLS Scholarship Foundation, Inc.
To mail orders: MARLS Scholarship Foundation, Inc. Attn: Kay McDonald PO Box 359 Columbia Falls, MT 59912 PHONE order to: 406-892-4579 with credit card
FAX order to: 406-897-2519 with credit card with expiration date
Email: [email protected] with credit card with expiration date We accept Visa, Mastercard, AE and Discover cards
24 TREASURE STATE SURVEYOR
Welcome new BOD and Committee chairs: Charles (Mike) Madler - NE Chapter President Secretary/Treasurer Report – Joe Kauffman MARLS 12-1-09 Glacier Bank checking acct: $5258.55 WCU – Savings acct: $35039.79 WCU – Reserve acct: $25000.00 Current A/R $4401.00 MARLS Scholarship Foundation 12-1-09 Glacier Bank checking acct: $170.02 DA Davidson: $34247.58 WCU MSF Scholarship Acct: $11629.25 WCU MSF – Jim Shaw acct: $5209.67
CHAPTER REPORTS Northwest Chapter – Jamie Reed
Our last Chapter Meeting was held Wednesday, September 30, 2009. Seventeen members were present.
Our Chapter will be setting a final point monument for Warren Hersman on Dan & Helen (Hersman) Brien’s property. A date has not yet been set.
Dues for the Northwest Chapter were discussed. We have enough funds in our account now from the Curt Smith Leveling Seminar our chapter held to keep from assessing dues for the chapter.
New Business: Jamie Reed reminded the chapter of the Board of PELS A.R.M.
Amendment Hearing to be held October 1 and urged members to email the Board their comments on the proposed change. Linda Smith read the letter she sent to the Board.
Jamie asked for scholarship items and nominations for MARLS Officers.
Our main item of business was planning our Height Mod Chapter Project. We will have 24 GPS units running simultaneously for 5 ½ hour sessions on October 13, 14 & 15. The data we collect will be sent to Curt Smith to process and blue-book. All the new monuments (rods driven to refusal) are set.
Current Update on our Height Mod Project: Greg Thurston and Dan Brien did an excellent job organizing everyone for the successful three-day occupation. Greg Thurston collected the forms and data from everyone involved and delivered it to Curt Smith at the end of November. It was great to have such widespread participation from the surveyors in our chapter.
South Central Chapter – Dan Stahly The SCC held a meeting on October 12th at the MacKenzie River Pizza Conference Room in Belgrade. There were 14 members present. Old Business: 1. Public Land Survey System Monument Protection – The SCC has been working with Gallatin County since the spring of 2006 to amend the Gallatin County Road Standards and Subdivision Regulations to include Public Land Survey System Monument Protection. Since our last meeting report, the commission directed our request back to the planning department, where it is stalled out until a “comprehensive update” is done to the Subdivision Regulations. No timeline or commitment has been given. It was decided to proceed with asking the County Commission for a resolution on the amendments. 2. Trig Star Contest – George Bornemann gave an update on how it went. We had two schools participate, Park and Gardiner. The first place winner from Park High went on to take second in the state. We discussed ways to get more schools to participate next year. A BIG
thanks to George and Craig Kamps for all the time they spent on this worthy endeavor. 3. Dave Bowman’s records – Tom Henesh will talk with Madison County Clerk and Recorder about scanning and preserving these records. 4. Proposed Minor in Land Surveying and Non-Degree Certificate for Land Surveying Intern Exam Only. Doug was unable to attend tonight’s meeting, but gave Dan copies of the Draft program course requirements and said that the University has approved them; the Board of Regents will discuss the proposed programs in January. 5. National Surveyor’s Week 2010 Planning. Debi Anderson, Dan Stahly, and George Bornemann volunteered to be on the planning committee. Ideas were discussed on how we could celebrate this week in our community. 2010 National Surveyors Week will be March 21-27. New Business: 1. 2010 MARLS conference in Helena. Chapter will start thinking about a donation for the MSF Annual Scholarship Auction. Dan will check on SCC balance of funds and inventory of items. 2. Non-PLSS Corner Records. MARLS BOD has been asked to send a letter to all clerk and recorders in the state explaining the intended use and how to identify abuse with recordings of multiple corners. The BOD wanted to see how the Chapters felt about the request - the SCC Chapter voted against sending a letter. 3. Gallatin County Subdivision Amendments: rebuttable presumptions regarding common boundary relocations. In August of 2009, Judge W. Nels Swandal, sitting by designation for the Eighteenth Judicial District in the case, Big Blue River, LLC v. Gallatin County Commission, DV-08-731C, declared Section 14.I.3.b of the Gallatin County Subdivision Regulations void and ordered Gallatin County to “enact a substitute section to replace the void section”. Said Section was deleted from the Regulations and replaced with a substitute section. For the text of the Amendment go to: http://www.gallatin.mt.gov/public_documents/gallatincomt_plandept/uploadedpdfs/SEC-14.I.3-amend-cc-post.pdf 4. MARLS Officer Nominations. Nominations are needed for the MARLS 2010-2011 President-elect, Vice President and Secretary-Treasurer. The SCC Chapter nominated Dan Stahly for Vice President. 5. NSPS Report – Debi Anderson. Debi shared about the success in turnout for Lobby Days in Washington, D.C. All three of Montana’s delegations were met with and the ceremony was well attended. Debi has a full report that she is going to submit to T.S.S. 6. Magnetic Locator “de-mining” program. Debi Anderson passed around information on a campaign to have magnetic locators donated to developing countries for use in eliminating land mines. For more information, contact Debbi or go to www.schonstedt.com Central Chapter – Jonathan Ries
Jonathan Ries, President, called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 19, 2009, in the downstairs conference room at 825 Custer Avenue, Helena, Montana.
The following members were present: Bryan Shields, Dave Hoerning, Jared Lay, Jonathan Ries, Gunnar Getchell and Erik Ulmer
Dennis Lay submitted a letter to Jonathan. Dennis requested that the Central Chapter endorse the letter addressed to the Lewis and Clark Commissioners. The letter requested that the commissioners appoint some money and personnel to organizing the road records in the Clerk and Recorders office. All approved the motion to send the letter. Meeting Minutes from the October 15th meeting were unanimously approved. 2010 MARLS Conference - Jonathan announced that all 2010 MARLS conference speakers have been decided and confirmed. Three exhibitors have paid and are scheduled to attend. (IGAGE, Selbys, Ray Koetin). Jonathan volunteered to be in charge of exhibitor placement and room layout. Exhibitor cost is $350/booth Hotel sets up skirting and Audio/Video will be provided.
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MARLS Board of Directors Meeting Highlights December 3, 2009
January 2010 25
MARLS has two PowerPoint machines that will require set-up by volunteers. The room for the spouses program is organized and reserved. (Expecting 30-40 spouses) Kay will need 5 or 6 volunteers on Tue. Feb. 23rd at about 3:00pm to help put conference books together. Also need volunteers to register people from 6-8:00 pm that same night. Kay will need 4 or 5 volunteers from 7-8:00 on Wed. Feb. 24th to help register people. She will also need one person to help her throughout the day with registration. Banquet costs will be included with registration fee, including spouses. Kay and Kurt Luebke will put together a budget in the next couple of weeks. Kay thought the cost of the registration might increase from 2008 by $5-$10 to cover the cost of the banquet. Kay is in the process of getting tax qualification filed so that the scholarship foundation is a 501C3, which will make the scholarship donations tax deductible. The Scholarship Foundation will pay the auctioneer with the help of a 50/50 raffle. Kay also suggested that we play a game of “heads or tails” for $10/person. Seminar Volunteers - Jonathan requested volunteers from the Central Chapter membership to introduce speakers at the beginning of each seminar. Please reply to Erik to be an introducer.
Gunnar volunteered to introduce the speakers for the corner record panel.
Dave volunteered himself and Jeff to be spotters during the scholarship auction.
Still need 2 more spotters. Still need a CFED volunteer to fill out the CPC form for the
conference. Door Prizes - The chapter members decided to give door prizes if there are small items not used for the auction. Board Meeting at conference: Board meeting and dinner will be at 6:00pm on Friday, February 26th. Auction Items - Jonathan requested that all chapter members help find auction items. Tom and Erik volunteered to document all donations and send receipts. Kay mentioned that most auction items come in one week before and during the conference.
Southwest Chapter – Russell Kluesner Elections were held for officers with the following results: President, Russ Kluesner, Vice President, Don Alley, Secretary, Dave Elias, Treasurer, Dave Neeley
An informal discussion was held concerning the state of the economy as it applies to our profession, as well as continued input on options to police our own concerning professional conduct, and other issues brought to the table.
A more serious discussion was then held after a presentation by Dave Elias on the current situations, and climate at the BEPLS. It has been suggested that we, as a state organization play a much more active role in the affairs of the board. Currently there are three key issues that require our input.
1) Continuing Education; the board has considered doing away with the CE requirements due to the difficulty with auditing, and maintaining training records. We (MARLS) need to take a more pro-active approach to helping the board with these tasks whenever we can.
2) Licensure by Comity, or Reciprocity; the issue of mobility, and local body of knowledge needs to be addressed on all non-resident applicants due to the rising number of individuals applying for Montana Licensure. The local body of knowledge seems to be the larger issue with other states requiring this before licensure is granted.
3) The long standing issue of “responsible charge” is again on the table with varied opinions on local tenancy requirements. “Opinions vary and range from requiring an LS in every office, to requiring an LS on every field crew.
The main concern from the BEPLS seems to be getting the members of our own associations to get involved in these issues, “it is part of what we are supposed to do”.
The MARLS discussion board on our website is a great place to make your thoughts and ideas heard, try to find time to use it every so often. Northeast Chapter – Charles Madler – The Northeast Chapter held a meeting on November 30, 2009 and the results of the election of officers for 2010-2011 are as follows: NE Chapter President Charles (Mike) Madler, VP Roger Meyer, Secretary/Treasurer Aaron Hummert. We discussed the CORS station at the Sidney airport.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
2010 MARLS Conference – Kay McDonald & Jonathan Ries Wednesday, February 24, 2010, will be an 8 hour (full day) Pre-
conference seminar. February 25th & 26th, MARLS will host concurrent surveying related technical sessions and seminars, MARLS general membership meetings and exhibition hall. Thursday evening events begin with the annual exhibitors’ reception, the MARLS hosted banquet and annual scholarship auction. MARLS changed the venue of this year’s conference. We will be holding our annual banquet and awards ceremony on Thursday night followed by the MARLS Scholarship Foundation annual scholarship auction all included in your registration fee along with lunch at the Wednesday seminar, breakfast and lunch on February 25 & 26. The MARLS Board of Directors’ conference meetings will be held at 6PM on Wednesday and Friday. There will be no conference activities after 5PM on Friday, February 26th.
I have been working with Jonathan and the Central Chapter on getting our speakers and the CPC applications completed. We only have one more CPC application to receive. We have the following speakers:
Wednesday Pre-conference seminar: "Pre Conference Seminar" Height Modernization, CORS & RTNs – Bill Henning, NGS (4 hours) and a Trimble rep and a Leica rep giving a workshop on implementation.
Conference speakers: NGS updates - OPUS, GEOID09, Positioning Now and in the Future – Curt Smith Dave's Story - End of Life Planning – Ray Kojetin, Insurance & Financing Field to Finish - Using Civil 3D – Pacificad BLM Manual 2009 edition – Mike Birtles & Jim Claflin, BLM Certified Federal Surveyor Program – Kurt Luebke (Moderator) – Panel Tom Stark, Dan Boers and Craig Brown Documentations of recorded and filing of instruments (difference & types) – Scott Svee, Attorney Monument Certificates and filing by county – MARLS Forum MT LiDAR, Airborne LiDAR data collection and mapping – Tom Sands Summary of the last decade of boundary-easement litigation and rules in Montana – Randall Snyder, P.C. Land Use Legislation 2009 & Proper Use of Exemptions, Sanitation & Platts Act - The Essentials for Surveyors - "A Surveyor Tool" – MTDEQ Kelly Cassillas – CTAP Steve Kilbreath, Jim Madden DEQ I am presenting the 2010 conference budget in new business so
the BOD can agree on the registration fees. I hope to be able to keep the same rates as we had in 2008 for the conference registration fees as we know everyone is affected greatly by the economy. There will be no entertainment this year. The spouse program is on track with Heather Lay setting up a great program for the ladies. Please extend an invitation to all your chapter members to bring their spouses to our 2010 conference.
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26 TREASURE STATE SURVEYOR
We are getting a few of the exhibitors already signing on to attend our conference. We kept their exhibitor fee the same as the 2008 conference at $350 per booth. A few of our speakers are doing their seminars at no charge and have only requested a booth in the exhibit hall for providing their services to our members as speakers.
Board of Registration – Tom Stark I was able to attend the Board meetings dated November 12th and
November 13, 2009, and the rules committee meeting November 12th. The general board meeting started at 1pm on the 12th. They did
not have a quorum at that time, so they listened to an engineer who spoke about the proposed rule changes regarding CPC. All of the same previous comments regarding the changes were made. David Elias seemed to be defending the previous changes proposed (I think I overheard they received over 200 comments.) I heard them say later that the CE discussion was remanded back to rules committee. The fact that David was defending the proposed rule changes made me think that they must have had their reasons and put some thought into it, and if they still believe in those proposed changes, then their methods of obtaining comments or letting the licensees know about the proposed changes were basically terrible.
They did not have a quorum at 2pm, so I left (had to get back to work!) I found out later they got the quorum by 3:15 (thanks to Jay Skoog.) The other rules moved forward. They even had discussion about whether or not CEs are even needed (which Jay commented that would bring a whole new set of problems.) The board would like to know what MARLS thinks of eliminating CEU requirement.
The board discussed license mobility and Comity provisions. Is MARLS talking about license mobility? (I gather this is regarding the fact that certain areas have special information or cases that only local knowledge is the practical way of making things work or solving issues, etc?)
The board is working to establish a notification policy at the next meeting and every licensee (engineer and/or surveyor) will receive a paper copy of proposed changes. It would be quite helpful if MARLS would assist the Board by offering comments on their discussion items. The board mentioned they do receive a few comments and that is good. More would be better. Additionally, if there are topics that surveyors wish the Board to discuss, they can let me know and I can forward to David Elias and he will do his best to place it on the agenda.
David thought an informal discussion with Board members at the MARLS conference would be nice and helpful to BPELS?
At the evening rules meeting, Jay Skoog and I were the only “public” in attendance. They discussed “in residence” and the language in the rules pertaining to it. They discussed the branch office definition, which I think both were prompted by a current complaint. There was a lot of discussion about this and the Certificate of Authorization. A question was raised: “how many people does an office have to have before the ‘responsible charge’ being NOT in the office itself is a problem?” The definition of responsible charge and branch office seemed unclear and this was discussed. The term “in residence” seems to cause a lot of grief. Does it mean “in the office-physically” or just an employee of a firm that has a current Certificate of Authorization? While the definitions in 24.183.406 seem clear, the board has dealt with some gray areas presented by questions from the licensees. The rules committee decided that they will continue to try to deal with these questions on a case by case basis. Meeting convened at 8:30pm.
The following day, the regular board meeting continued. There was discussion about codifying the board’s mission statement. They are working on a mission statement at this time, restating their purpose and perhaps clarifying their mission. The societies may be contacted by the board to aid in this process.
There was discussion about Cite and Fine, which is their internal discussion about finding ways to beef up the board’s ability to get after
and deal with unlicensed practice. They will soon have to revisit comity as specific issues have been brought up that need to be discussed.
GAC was sent over to the State Departments that were objecting at the first rule hearing. The board hopes to have responses by February's meeting. CPC Evaluation – Rob Rux - The CPC committee is in the process of approving 10 presentations and a pre-conference seminar for the 2010 conference in Helena. Nearly all of the required paperwork has been submitted & it is anticipated that all programs will be approved. This should provide a diverse opportunity for continuing education credits at the conference. CST Program – Russ Kluesner - No new requests have been received for CST exams since my last report. MDOT has some interest and will be pursuing more info and possibly doing some exams later in the year, as workloads and available personnel dictate. Geomatics Advisory Council – Warren Latvala & Dick Smith GAC was sent over to the State Departments that were objecting at the first rule hearing. The board hopes to have responses by February's meeting. Kurts letter 11-2-09 RE: GAC Rules: Board of Professional Engineers and Professional Land Surveyors 301 South Park Avenue P.O. Box 200513
Helena, MT 59620-0513 On behalf of the Montana Association of Registered Land
Surveyors (MARLS), this letter is in response to the request for comments on the Geomatics Advisory Council rules. These comments were prepared by the MARLS GAC Committee personnel and as such; represent the official MARLS comments.
Comments on BPELS GAC Draft document dated Friday July 24 2009:
Page 2/7 - New Rule II (4)(a)(ii) – Just a misspelling, “preformed” instead of “performed”.
Page 4/7 – New Rule III (3) - The last sentence “Lands acquired for state highways are specifically exempted under 76-3-209, MCA” was added. There may be a problem not necessarily with the draft document but within the statutes. 76-3-209 creates an exemption regarding “state highway plans which have been recorded in compliance with 60-2-209 and are exempted from the surveying and platting requirements of this chapter.” The problem is that while 60-2-209 requires the department (MDOT) to prepare a description and plan of highway, there is no requirement for recording that description and/or plan. The BPELS (and MDOT) attorneys may want to take another look at this. It appears to be a problem within the statutes, but if so the BPELS may not want to have the new rule cite statutes that may have to be revised.
Page 4/7 – New Rule III (8)(a) – The GAC document had a second paragraph, similar to the second paragraph on the following subsection (b) clarifying when a similar map need not be prepared by a PLS. We believe that the omission of the second paragraph of (a) was inadvertently left out and should be reinserted.
Page 6/7 – New Rule IV (7) – The end wording of the last sentence of this rule was changed from “data is not a land survey product” to “data is not for design.” This may have been changed by the GAC subsequent to the 2/4/2005 revision of the document.
Thank you for your consideration of our concerns. Height Modernization – Steve Niday - The Montana Height Modernization Program is alive, but not well. Federal funding beyond our initial $75,000 grant has not happened. The money we did receive is targeted to installation of a CORS near Lewistown,
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January 2010 27
completion of the Helena CORS, upgrading antennas and mounts at Richland County, Montana Resources in Butte, Havre, Flathead Valley Community College, and some outreach materials. Additional CORS sites might be partially funded if an appropriate partner can be found. Our plan to fully implement Height Modernization in Montana calls for $5,000,000 over five years. Our current grant spending deadline is September 30, 2013. Any additional federal funding will likely require a significant interest by our congressional delegation. Other sources of funding are being explored by the Height Modernization Committee. Historical – Bill Weikel – Bill attended the Surveyors Rendezvous ’09 in Cowen, West Virginia on September 24 – 26, 2009. He reported the Survey Camp on the “Dividing Line” and Surveying with the CCC Boys were very interesting with the Rendezvous three day event. Kurt Luebke spoke to the Men’s Senior Forum in Missoula about the Montana-Idaho Border. Membership - Kay McDonald - The MARLS Membership as of 12-2-09 is 484 members. I still have membership accounts receivable of $4401 and have received $49900 to date for membership dues. We have 253 active LS members, 6 fellow, 55 life, 109 associates, 20 non-resident, 16 sustaining, 12 sustaining-health, 7 honorary and 6 affiliate members. We had 503 members of MARLS as of June 30, 2009 and I anticipate our membership to increase when conference registrations begin to come in.
MLIAC - Rudy Cicon The Montana Land Information Plan for the coming year, 1/15/2010 to 1/14/2011 was presented. The land plan is essentially the same but goals have been changed to focus more on funding issues. The council voted to accept the plan but recognizing that acceptance did not constitute approval of a final budget. The Council has been discussing a code of ethics for grant review and Robin Trenbeath provided a “Draft Grant Review Code of Ethics” for Council review. If a MLIA grant application is received from the organization of a Subcommittee member, then that member will declare a conflict of interest and not be allowed to score that particular grant. It was reported that through information received from a survey of counties, many local governments are using MLIA funds to improve their GIS programs. However, many smaller counties are rolling over funds in order to save these dollars to leverage additional funds. A final draft of the return of investment study “Montana’s Cadastral Layer Business Impact” was presented. This report focuses on the value and costs associated with Montana’s cadastral framework layer. Many private companies and individuals use this data, as do many land surveyors, and this study attempts to place some kind of value on the service. This economic value study can then be presented at a legislative level to perhaps justify requested funding in the future. A large percentage of time of various reports has dealt with funding and how that funding can be increased to improve the various framework layers available to the public. The Council voted to endorse the GISP and its certification as follows, “The MLIA Council endorses the GISP certification as well as the GISCI organization which offers a positive method of developing value for professionals and employers in the GIS profession”. The Council did not want to endorse something that could be construed as requiring certification in order to gain employment or something similar. NAIP Status - Montana received initial delivery of MRSID, 3 band data in compressed county mosaics. The State Library has been working on tiling and re-projecting that data and hope to have it available by the end of December. When the uncompressed imagery is received BMSC will process it into map service using ImageServer.
This report was a brief summary of activities of the MLIAC. Please visit the MLIAC web page to obtain business meeting minutes as well as reports on various subcommittees. As always, please contact me if you have any questions or need additional information on MLIAC activities. NSPS – Debra Anderson
Lobby Day at Capitol Hill this year was attended by more than 60 members and non-members of NSPS this year. This was our greatest turnout yet and Senators, Congressmen and/or staff was visited for almost every state in the US. I had the great pleasure of attending meetings with the staff of Senators Tester and Baucus with Kurt Luebke, Jeff Jones and Ray Mathy (sp). We all know that Kurt is our current president and has been doing an outstanding job in his position. I was also glad to have Kurt along since he kept me from getting lost numerous times! Jeff Jones is our NSPS area director and Ray has taken over the chair position for West Fed from our own Dick Smith.
The following issues were presented (full details can be found at the Joint Government Affairs Site on the WEB):
Preservation of Railroad Monumentation: This was presented in an actual Draft Bill form and was received very well from the Senate. Jeff Jones met with the Senator of Wyoming and she was in an actual court case involving an abandoned railroad that went through her property and we are sure she will help to either introduce or sponsor this bill. Oberstar (sp) from Minnesota was going to introduce this bill for us but since he is the head of the committee that will be reviewing it he could not introduce it. However, we still have his full support. Our goal now is to find one democrat and one republican sponsor which I feel we will have shortly.
Appropriations for the ACSM Trig-Star Program: As the wheels of government turn slowly we are still looking for the appropriations for this request. If you remember we originally went in asking for around ten thousand dollars. We were told this was way too small and to come back with a bigger request. The next year we went in with much more and they said it was too big. Feeling like Goldilocks and the Three Bears we have now arrived at a request of $100,000 per year from Congress to help support this program.
Withholding Tax Relief: This program is suppose to go into effect in 2012 and requires tax withholdings at a rate of 3% on all government payments for products and services made by the federal, state and local governments with expenditures of $100 million or more. Senators Specter and Representative Meek introduced a bill asking that this be stricken. Apparently we aren’t the only ones complaining about this bill and a coalition has been formed with many industries, big and small, joining in order to fight this bill that will go into effect in 2012. We will have a representative on this coalition.
Coastal Mapping Legislation: Our goal here is to support H.R. 365 and S 174. Although many states are not coastal we wanted to offer our support, services and expertise as needed to help this legislation pass Congress. Please read the web site for full details on these bills.
Federal Land Survey Modernization: Basically we are requesting Congress to provide sufficient funding to the federal land management agencies relating to the survey of federal lands. The BLM is backlogged with surveys but have no money to perform them or to hire private firms to perform them.
Again, full details of all these items are on the ACSM web site. (Go to www.acsm.net and click on the JGAC, Joint Government Affairs Committee).
Frank Lenik, the NSPS Governor from New Jersey was elected Key Governor at our Fall Board of Governors meeting this year. Frank has been working through his church on a campaign to have magnetic locators donated to developing countries for use in eliminating land mines. I have included the brochure that was handed out and am hoping that it will be printed in the TSS, if not this issue then the next one.
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28 TREASURE STATE SURVEYOR
Pat Smith, the NSPS Governor from Texas has been our Chairman for the Board of Governors for the past two terms. He was reelected (in overwhelming support) by the governors to serve again. Pat has improved the connection and relationship between the Board of Governors and the NSPS Board of Directors and since he has been a key factor in making us a stronger organization and a stronger group of governors.
For all those members of NSPS that will be receiving ballots in the near future to vote on new positions: For Vice President I am voting for Bob Dahn. I realize that many of you never get the chance to actually meet or know the people that you are voting for and although I intend in no way to sway anyone’s votes I would like to show my support for Mr. Dahn.
BLM Ceremony: What an honor it was to be present at this ceremony commemorating the new 2009 BLM Manual. I will present a more detailed report on this in the next issue as I am waiting for pictures and more information regarding some of the speakers, etc. However, the printing is planned for December of this year. I am also trying to find out what our responsibilities are in the use of this manual. Perhaps Kurt will have more information in his report.
At the NSPS Fall and Spring meetings we are in meetings for hours and it is impossible to cover everything in one report. However, the meeting agendas, reports and information are on the web and I would be happy to give you any information that I can if you wish to email me at [email protected]. I feel honored to be representing Montana at a national level and I urge everyone to please find a way to join NSPS. A lot of very good, very dedicated people from across the nation are fighting for our rights and our future as land surveyors. It would be great to show our support by becoming members. Scholarship – MARLS Scholarship Foundation - Bill Weikel - I have been in contact with Dave Dorsett regarding the Jim Shaw Scholarship and the concept of this scholarship request that being disbursed to needy students attending the surveying program at FVCC. Dave informed me that he does have several needy students in the program and is writing recommendations to submit to the MARLS Scholarship Foundation for consideration.
Trig Star - Randy Thomas – Trig Star Packets have been purchased through NSPS for $500. I will have these available soon to disburse to the chapters. West Fed - Dick Smith & Linda Smith Email: [email protected] Website: www.wfps.org Chairman – Dick Smith, Montana (outgoing) Ray Mathe, California (incoming) Chairman Elect – Ray Mathe, California (outgoing), Harold Baldwin, Arizona (incoming) Past Chairman – Mike Mickiewicz, Washington (outgoing), Dick Smith, Montana (incoming) Secretary/Treasurer – Harold Baldwin, Arizona (outgoing), Richard Heiren, Alaska (incoming) 17 delegates/officers present (all member states except Alaska were represented by at least 1 delegate- 5 states were represented by both delegates). Also in attendance: Curt Sumner, ACSM Executive Director; and guests from Colorado: Diana Askew, PLSC Executive Director; Pam Fromhertz, Colorado State Advisor NOAA NGS; Gene Kooper and Michael Bouchard.
The next meeting will be held on January 30, 2010 at the Pacific Beach Hotel in Honolulu. The meeting will be in conjunction with the Hawaii Land Surveyor’s Conference. The Hawaii association will provide for complimentary transportation for West Fed Delegates from the airport. They are also encouraging delegates to attend their conference. The June meeting will be held in Portland on June, 12, 2010.
Incoming President’s Comments New Chairman, Ray Mathe’s, proposed accomplishments for his 2 year term: Helping states to obtain Right of Entry laws and encourage NSPS to lobby for Right of Entry on a national level Determine what states have Mini Brooks Acts and develop a program or procedure to process violations Provide detailed information from the state reports to both WFPS Delegates and State Executive Directors Encourage the use of the NSPS CST program and develop study material and a seminar that can be used prior to the administering CST exams.
Ray asked delegates to think about areas that their state is struggling with and request WFPS to determine if assistance can be provided. An example of this is the WFPS Discussion Board. Many WFPS state societies do not have a discussion board and it would be too costly for them to develop and maintain a board. Can WFPS offer assistance to these states by providing use of the existing WFPS discussion board? Treasurer report – FY 2010 Budget Approval In FY 2009 West Fed expended slightly more than $14,000 and brought in over $12,000 ($8,600 from conference and remaining from interest). Proposed expenditures for FY 2010 is approximately $42,000 (with management fees tripling) Scholarship Report – The 4 scholarship recipients all provided evidence of enrollment and checks are being disbursed to the students. ACSM REPORT - Curt Sumner – Fall meetings and Lobby Day will be held at the end of September. Currently, there are 45 people signed up for Lobby Day where The Secretary of Interior will be present to sign the new BLM Manual. ACSM is working with the BLM to found a PLSS Foundation which will provide education, publications. The new manual will be sold to help fund the foundation. Curt reported they are looking for a board member and if anyone is interested or if you have a recommendation, please let him know. NSPS has recently voted to support a four year degree requirement for licensure. Curt is working with a state society to draft a press release in response to criminals posing as Land Surveyors to gain access to property and stealing from a 91 year old woman. National Museum of Surveying will be administering a poster completion for National Surveyors Week. The winner will be displayed at the Museum during the year. Due to the economy, NSPS membership is down approximately 11%. The Cartography and Geographic Information Society (CAGIS) has announced they are withdrawing as a member organization of ACSM effective in 2011. ACSM/APLS 2010 Annual Conference and Technology Exhibition will collocate with GITA's Geospatial Infrastructure Solutions Conference at the Phoenix Convention Center, April 24-28, 2010 STATE REPORTS: ALASKA – In 2010 Alaska Society of Professional Surveyors will celebrate its 50th year anniversary. Dues for licensed member are $200, total membership 163. Legislation protecting surveyor’s signed and sealed documents failed. ARIZONA – Several APLS chapters sponsoring their own continuing education seminars CALIFORNIA – 2010 Conference will be held with Nevada on February 27 - March 3 at the Silver Legacy in Reno, Nevada. CLSA polled members and found that 68% were not in favor or a four year degree requirement for licensure but 67% were in favor of mandatory continuing education. A Right of Entry brochure has been developed to help educate home owners and law enforcement. A Right of Entry flyer has been developed to help educate surveyors about their responsibilities in regard to right of entry. Railroad Survey 101
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January 2010 29
Seminar was held October 16th and October 23rd. CLSA is developing a radio advertisement that will be broadcast on Sky Radio and will be posted on the CLSA website. CLSA is developing a safety tailgate handbook. There are 140 new LSs in California. COLORADO – Guest Eugene “Gene” Kooper from Colorado discussed PLSC’s effort to obtain mandatory continuing education in Colorado. Currently, Colorado has a Senate Bill that addressed continuing education for architects. PLSC anticipates that a continuing education program will be implemented by the end of 2010 for architects which may pave the road for Land Surveyors. Guest Pam Fromhertz, Colorado State Advisor NOAA NGS, discussed the height modernization project. Information on the program can be found at www.coloradoheightmod.com. Curt Sumner suggested requesting ear mark for funding height modernization.. HAWAII - Guest speakers at the 2010 convention will be NSPS President John Matonich and WFPS Chairman Ray Mathe. IDAHO - The Idaho Board of Registration is accepting input regarding the possibility of the engineers splitting from the Board of registration. ISPLS has a new Executive Director, Kathy Dane, who will begin next spring. NEVADA - Forensic Surveying Seminar was held in Reno on September 12th and Las Vegas on September19th. A LSI/LS Review Seminar was also held October 3 in Reno & Las Vegas. The NALS website, www.nv-landsurveyors.org has been revamped and proving to be a valuable reference tool for surveyors. NALS is holding their October board meeting via videoconferencing between Las Vegas and Reno. NEW MEXICO- Board of Licensure turn around time on complaints has been a problem. In several cases it is taking years for resolution. NMPS has developed an Ethical Practices Committee to attempt to resolve differences between surveyors and/or the public. NMPS is reviewing a bylaw change to make WFPS Delegates and NSPS Governors voting members of the Board. OREGON - PLSO is experiencing a significant decrease in membership from the previous year. Over 300 students participated in Trig Star. 21 Teachers participated in the TWIST program. Greg Crites and Mike Mickiewicz are to provide more information on developing the TWIST program in other states. A new law passed making the Office of County Surveyor an appointed position unless county charter specifically provides otherwise. The most common complaint against Land Surveyors to the Board of Registration in Oregon is the violation of the Right of Entry Law and the violation of the recording time requirement. UTAH –A bill passed in 2009 that modified the criminal code regarding trespass on agricultural and range lands. The bill is of concern to land surveyors because cutting, destroy or rendering ineffective fencing of agricultural or range lands and unlawful entry is subject to civil penalty. WASHINGTON- Discussing adoption of NCEES Model Law defining land surveying 2010 Conference will be held at the Hotel Murano in Tacoma on March 3 – 6 Awaiting IRS confirmation of 501(c)3 status for Foundation Two schools have created survey oriented programs in response to their involvement with the TwiST program WYOMING-Trying to initiate a four year degree program New Business: All delegates who attend the next meeting and Hawaii’s association banquet will receive a complimentary banquet ticket – guests will need to cover their own expenses Action List: Public Relations Committee to develop a list of items to be provided for a WFPS booth/table at state conferences Harold Baldwin to develop Public Relations Action Plan Delegates to forward pictures of surveying projects to be posted on WFPS web site
WFPS website to be updated with pictures Delegates to forward each state logo to Crissy – high resolution format Each delegate to write a paragraph describing their perception of WFPS send to Harold Baldwin
OLD BUSINESS
♦ Correspondence: AMUW Conference proceeds received 11-27-09 of $2171.20 (for a total income of $5398.38, total expenses $2976.74 for a total net income for MARLS of $2421.64).
♦ To whom it may concern, I would like to thank the entire MARLS staff for the honor of receiving the 2009 Tiny Tillotson Scholarship. I have worked very hard to get where I am, and I am extremely grateful to be acknowledged for that. I wish everybody the best and hope to see our paths cross again somewhere down the road. Thank you again! Amanda Kiefer 2nd Year Survey Student - Flathead Valley Community College
MARLS NSPS and West Fed representatives on MARLS Board of Directors – Shannon Marinko FROM SEPTEMBER MINUTES - Shannon notified the BOD that this request from Debi Anderson (MARLS NSPS representative) and Linda Smith (MARLS West Fed representative) would take a MARLS Bylaws change. The BOD felt they needed Debi, Linda and Dick to report at the December meeting why they feel this should be completed. The BOD asked Kay to go back and find the motion made in past by the MARLS BOD that the committee chairs are able to make motions and second motions but have not vote. The current board did not feel they had enough information at this meeting to proceed with this agenda item and tabled this until the December BOD meeting.
The MARLS BOD reviewed the By-laws and discussed with Linda Smith and Dick Smith the request of changing the by-laws to add the MARLS NSPS and West Fed representatives to the MARLS Board of Director.
At the last West Fed meeting there was a poll of 17 out of 26 West Fed members and a majority of West Fed members are voting members on their respective states’ Board of Directors.
This would be a by-laws change under Article 14; Section 1 of the MARLS Bylaws under representatives. The procedure would fall MARLS Bylaws; Article 13 (amendments)/ Section 2; (2)
Following the meeting Linda Smith and Dick Smith submitted the preliminary MARLS Bylaws change to Kay. They will proceed with getting the ten signatures and this will be published in the January edition of the Treasure State Surveyor (qualifying mailing to all members of MARLS) and then presented at the annual MARLS General Membership meeting on February 25, 2009.
June 2010 BOD meeting & joint seminar with MARLS – NDSPLS at Medora, ND update – Peter Olson
Kay called Cody at Medora Convention Center planning and we have tentatively setup blocked sleeping rooms and the conference room for the Medora Joint Seminar with MARLS and NDSPLS.
The seminar will be an all day seminar on the Updated BLM Manual with Dennis Mouland, Mike Birtles and maybe a few more BLM persons. I have not asked for their CPC application yet. Mike Birtles is working on this and we will have more information in the next few weeks.
The Seminar will be “2009 BLM Manual Introduction and Overview Workshop” by BLM presenters (Dennis Mouland and Mike Birtles heading this seminar).
I have tentatively reserved Friday, June 18, 2010 for the Seminar at Medora in the Rough Rider Hotel for 150 attendees.
There is blocked sleeping rooms of 101 at the Badlands
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30 TREASURE STATE SURVEYOR
Hotel (I requested the government rate and she is checking on this)
There is blocked sleeping rooms of 76 at the Rough Rider Hotel (I requested the government rate and she is checking on this also)
The cost of the Friday, June 18, 2010 Seminar Room is $250 including AV equipment and we hope to provide a buffet lunch for attendees in the same room.
I want to bring this before our BOD at our meeting December 3rd to ask them if a FRIDAY seminar is okay.
NDSPLS has been asked if they think a FRIDAY seminar vs. a SATURDAY seminar is preferable with NDSPLS attendees.
How many attendees from NDSPLS will attend has been asked. I am hoping that MARLS attendees will exceed 75 and that NDSPLS attendees will meet or exceed 75. I am hoping that if we hold this on a Friday that most would bring
their families and make a weekend stay giving Medora facilities three nights lodging for most attendees.
The MARLS Board of Directors meeting would be held Saturday morning for 4 hours if the seminar is on Friday all day. (8 hour seminar). http://www.medora.com/ is the website to refer to for all information on Medora and what they will offer next summer for those attending our seminar. Will the MARLS BOD will agree to the Friday, June 18, 2010 date for the seminar and Holly finds out if NDSPLS attendees would most likely agree to that date also rather than take up the weekend (Saturday) for the seminar leaving them time to spend with their family at Medora and enjoy the sites and activities. There are many activities for all to enjoy. Kay thanked Holly of NDSPLS for joining with MARLS to plan this seminar.
The BOD agreed to the Friday, June 18, 2010 date for the seminar.
2011 MARLS Billings Holiday Inn Conference dates and contract - Kay has a contract to review and sign for the 2011 conference with the Billings Holiday Inn Grand and has set the dates for February 23 – 25, 2011 and the Southeast Chapter is in agreement with holding the conference at this site as it is the only site in Billings that can accommodate the MARLS conference number of attendees.
Blazer v. Wall Legislation – Jamie Reed - The Northwest Chapter discussed the Blazer v. Wall Supreme Court Case and easement legislation. Our Chapter would like to urge MARLS to press for clarification of the case in a Legislative Bill. The BOD discussed this request and asked that Jamie work on this with Rick Gustine and Jonathan Ries also said he would help. They suggested getting the Title Companies and Realtors involved also. Jamie reported she will complete this process and contacts to present this at the general membership meeting at conference.
Non-PLSS Corner Records – Jamie Reed - Northwest Chapter discussed non-PLSS Corner Record Abuse. Jamie had informed the Northwest Chapter that the MARLS BOD is under the consensus that at least something is getting recorded. Northwest Chapter is asking the MARLS BOD to send a letter to all clerk and recorders in the state explaining the intended use and how to identify abuse with recordings of multiple corners. CTAP (Community Technical Assistance Program) will be presenting a seminar at the MARLS 2010 conference on PLSS Corner Record Abuse. BOD meeting members discussed the pros and cons, time frames in different counties to submit and wait period for results. Most go through errors and omissions. BOD discussed the variance of differences of recording and non-recording of each county (non PLSS v. PLSS) and abuse of corner record form and the need for the counties and surveyors to be educated. Northwest Chapter has samples of incorrect ones in non PLSS and should be PLSS and counties are not following the actual form in some counties. We will keep this on the agenda for the next meeting and questioned if there is a current manual of instruction on how this is done at the
county level throughout the state. This will be a seminar at the 2010 MARLS conference.
Update on MT Board of PEPLS Continuing Education Rule Changes proposal – Tom Stark From President Luebke - On Thursday, October 1st a rather unpublicized public hearing was conducted by the Montana Board of Registration with several proposed ARM amendments. One of those amendments proposed drastic changes to our Continuing Professional Competency requirements to “protect the public.” MARLS takes the position that the proposed changes are unwarranted and unneeded and would cause undo hardships on all registrants as well as professional organizations. I was not able to personally appear, but I did draft a letter which was delivered to the Board which set forth the problems the MARLS board felt there were with the proposed changes. We were represented by our CPC Committee Chairman, Bob Rux, who commented verbally on the proposed changes and submitted written comments as well. We are not in favor of the changes being presented and strongly opposed them. We have until October 9 to submit written comments to the Board. I urge all members of MARLS to send or email your comments to the Board at [email protected]. My thanks go out to all who have taken the time to comment and especially to Bob Rux for taking time out of his schedule to represent MARLS at the hearing. Submitted by Tom Stark – MARLS BOR Committee Chair to MARLS BOD: October 15, 2009 BPELS Report – October 2009 Subject: Tom Stark’s General Notes and comments for
BPELS public hearing/comment on proposed amendments ARM 24.183.408 et al
Board of Directors: I was able to attend the above hearing to voice any comments I
may have on the proposed rule changes. I received the rule change proposal by mail on Sept 10, 2009. I reviewed the rule changes briefly and made some notes. I also showed them to some of our engineers in this office to get their opinions before I attended the meeting.
There was almost a full room of public attendees for the meeting. There were only two members of the board present, along with a note-taker and the presider. I was called to present any verbal opinions, which I declined, as I prefer to put my thoughts in writing and submit them later.
Rob Rux was next to speak on the above proposed changes and I thought he did an excellent job of presenting his comments and concerns regarding the proposed changes. Of particular note was the fact that hardly anyone but me and just a few others were notified, either by mail or email, of the proposed hearing on the proposed changes. Rob felt that all that could be affected from changes to rules that govern their profession should be on the list of notified people should there be rule changes proposed. Rob mentioned the fact that he is the MARLS chair of Continuing Education and Continuing Professional Competency and he was not notified by the BPELS that they were proposing changes. He thought this was very improper and alarming. MARLS or anyone for that matter should have been notified of the fact that the BPELS was even considering changing rules.
Rob then went through a very well presented history of how MARLS took on the topic of Continuing Education and how they went about dealing with making it a mandatory and monitored part of a PLS life. Rob read the approval process used by the MARLS CPC committee to approve CE credits. Rob wondered what the “Board Approved Associations” were (as did everyone in attendance.) Rob presented point by point comments on many items being stricken from the rules in the proposal, with particular points on the school credits and the change in the carryover PDH.
Rob pointed out (and everyone in attendance noted) that most of
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January 2010 31
the proposed changes seemed to be aiding the board and not looking out for the best interests of the individual licensee. Rob did agree with the 4 year record keeping change (which none in attendance disagreed with.) He noted that if they are going to add members to the board, they should add a PLS, not two PE’s. In closing, Rob made a great point that list of individuals to be notified of proposed changes should be, by default, ALL registrants.
Kay McDonald was present to submit Kurt’s and Linda’s comments.
Others in attendance that spoke supported everything Rob said (as I said-awesome job Rob.) Complaints about notification were prominent. One person mentioned it would be beneficial to have the new licensees follow the CPC rules immediately to enable them to quickly understand and follow the rules and the reasons behind them. Other attendees mentioned the BPELS struck out specific things that the original writers intended. Comments on these proposed changes put the burden on the licensee.
I am going to go ahead and put in here that one person mentioned that he heard these changes were a back door way of making engineers go to unattended (low turnout) seminars.
Definitely need to see this list of “Board Approved Organizations” that they say will be approving these courses for CPC. At this time, the members in attendance were unsure of what they were, and we all agreed that there probably aren’t any.
I think the main thing I took away from this hearing is the general astonishment that changes were being contemplated without notification to basically anyone, that the board is messing with a system that seems to be working, and the board did an amazingly lousy job of notifying anyone about the changes or the hearing, especially in this day and age of automation and simple contact capabilities.
I had my own personal notes regarding the rules changes, that mostly centered around “why?” and the carryover reduction. I was certainly unsure, as with everyone else it seemed, why the board was changing these sets of rules so substantially without any comment or base other than, from what I gathered, unfounded claims that the existing rules are burdensome to the board. Thomas E. Stark, PLS, CFedS
NEW BUSINESS
2010 – 2011 MARLS Officers nominations – Nominating Committee is Chapter Presidents: The Nominating Committee is made up of the Chapter Presidents. President Luebke asked the Chapter Presidents to ask their chapters for nominations for 2010 – 2011 MARLS officers to bring before the General Membership at the 2010 MARLS Conference. Nominations are needed for MARLS 2010 – 2011 President-elect, Vice President and Secretary-Treasurer. The term for MARLS officers is one year. Chapter Presidents please report at the December MARLS BOD meeting your Chapter’s results. If your chapter has a current officer that would like to run for office again, please report this also as your nomination for the offices of 2010 – 2011. The following were nominated for the MARLS officer positions for the 2010 – 2011 term at the December 3rd BOD meeting and they will bring to the General Membership meeting at the February 25 – 26, 2010 conference: South Central Chapter nominated Dan Stahly for Vice-President Southeast Chapter nominated Randy Thomas for Vice-President Northwest Chapter nominated Joseph Kauffman for Secretary/Treasurer
Good of the Order 1. Complimentary TSS recipient request – Kurt, Kay and Andy went
through the mailing list of the Treasure State Surveyor and analyzed the cost of mailing and printing of the TSS, advertising income and went through the mailing list of the TSS and decided now that the TSS is available online at www.marls.com that we
would try to take out as many of the complimentary TSS as feasible to cut the costs of the Treasure State mailings to non-members of MARLS. The 56 county clerk and recorders were taken out of the list, each of the 50 states receive only one copy to either the state’s society office or if that state has an editor, then only to that state’s editor. The West Fed members were receiving a copy each (26 members) and Andy and Kurt asked Kay to also delete these to receive the TSS. Dick Smith felt they should still receive a complimentary issue, the BOD discussed this and Dick will poll the West Fed members to see if they are okay with reading the TSS on the MARLS website and let us know.
2. MARLS Brochures – Kay – I have gathered up samples of brochures and will design with the help of Kurt Luebke new MARLS Brochures and have them ready for handing out to our members at the conference. We will also work on designing a door on to attach on homeowners doors for when surveying work is being done on property.
3. Announce new life members – none for December meeting 4. Reminder to BOD to submit bio’s for TSS (Joe, Jonathan, Bob,
Stephen & Mike Madler) 5. Chapter 990-N filings – Kay – I sent all eight chapters
information on filing taxes for each chapter and we will proceed to get each chapter to start completing this each year.
6. BLM Manual of Surveying 2009 will be ready for purchase at $125 per book in January. The BOD suggested Kay check into the discounted rate for purchasing over 50 BLM Manuals 2009 with NSPS and proceed to purchase these books after getting an email out to the members if they are interested in purchasing at this discounted rate of $80 through MARLS.
7. Rick Gustine discussed with the MARLS BOD House Bill 404 and question arose if the MT Board of PE&LS has taken any action regarding House Bill 404 which went into effect October 1, 2009. Tom Stark said he would ask at their next Board meeting. We will add this to Old Business in the Agenda for conference meetings.
8. Add to MARLS General Membership Agenda for conference Continuing Education Proposed Rule Changes – Bob Rux
9. Add to MARLS General Membership and BOD Agenda – Discussion of adding another LS to the MT Board of PE & LS process.
Meeting adjourned.
Respectively submitted, Kay McDonald Administrative Secretary
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Certified Corner Recordation Forms
Download on the MARLS website: www.marls.com
32 TREASURE STATE SURVEYOR
Scholarships for 1st and 2nd Year Surveying Students The Montana Association of Registered Land Surveyors (MARLS) Scholarship Foundation has scholarship funds available for students who have graduated or are anticipating graduating from a Montana High School and are interested in pursuing an education in surveying at a Montana institution; and for students entering the 2nd year of a 2 year surveying curriculum or the 3rd year of a 4 year curriculum with a surveying emphasis.
1st Year Students: A number of scholarships of up to $1,000 will be awarded for the 2009-2010 school year to students entering a curriculum which is recognized by the Montana Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors as meeting the requirements for a person to eventually become a Licensed Professional Land Surveyor. The currently recognized programs are those at Flathead Valley Community College and Montana State University - Bozeman.
1st Year Students : A number of scholarships of up to $700 may be awarded for the 2009-2010 school year to students entering a curriculum which will provide a surveying technician level of education. A number of Montana community colleges and branches of State of Montana Universities offer surveying programs.
2nd Year Students: A number of scholarships of up to $2,000 will be awarded for the 2009-2010 school year to students entering the 2nd year of a 2 year surveying curriculum or the 3rd year of a 4 year surveying focused curriculum approved by the Board of Directors (BOD) of MARLS. At the time of applying for scholarship funds, the applicant must be at a minimum in the 2nd semester of a 2 year surveying program or the 4th semester of a four year program.
Application: Scholarship awards will be determined based on a combination of academic achievement, financial need, work history, course of study, and a submitted essay. To apply for scholarship funds please supply the following information in a neat and orderly format (It is important for you to recognize that the Foundation takes into consideration how well the requested information is presented).
1. Type of scholarship being applied for. (1st & 2nd year applicants) 2. Full name, address, telephone number, and email address. (1st & 2nd year applicants) 3. Description of financial need. (1st & 2nd year applicants) 4. Work experience, especially any surveying experience. (1st & 2nd year applicants) 5. The name and location of the high school you are attending or you attended. Include the month and year of graduation or anticipated
graduation. (1st year applicants only) 6. Your high school grade transcript to date. (1st year applicants only) 7. The name of the school you are planning to attend and the program you will enroll in. (1st year applicants only) 8. A one page essay describing what interested you in pursuing an education in surveying, and your career goals . (1st year applicants only) 9. The name of the institution you attended for your 1st year of surveying education. (2nd year applicants only) 10. Your post high school grade transcript to date. (2nd year applicants only) 11. Name of the institution you are planning on attending for your 2nd year of surveying education. (2nd year applicants only) 12. A one page essay describing what you have learned about surveying to date and how that knowledge will assist you in achieving your career
goals. (2nd year applicants only) 13. A letter of recommendation (sent directly to the MARLS scholarship foundation) from a school counselor or surveying instructor who you
had contact with at the institution of your first year of surveying education. The letter should include the writer's opinion as to your qualifications, character, and attitude. All recommendations are confidential. (2nd year applicants only)
Your application packet should include the following statement along with your signature and the date.
“I hereby certify that all the information on this application is true and correct. I understand that any false information in, or deliberate omissions from, this application may be grounds for rejection of the application and withdrawal of any scholarship award offer. I agree that I will abide by the decisions of the MARLS Board of Directors as they relate to this Scholarship application”. All applications must be postmarked no later than May 31, 2010. All decisions regarding scholarship awards for the 2009-2010 school year will be made by the MARLS BOD. Awards of scholarship funds will be made after receipt of proof of enrollment. Submit application materials to: MARLS Scholarship Foundation, Inc., Attn: Kay McDonald, PO Box 359, Columbia Falls, MT 59912
MARLS Scholarship Foundation
January 2010 33
Name _________________________________________________________ Address_______________________________________________________ City _______________________ State _________ Zip _________________ Visa/MC/AE/Discover ________ ________Exp. date___________________
Mail orders to: MARLS
Attn: Kay McDonald P.O. Box 359
Columbia Falls, MT 59912
Phone: 406-892-4579 FAX: 406-897-2519
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.marls.com
DESCRIPTION PRICE QUANTITY AMOUNT
MARLS Standard of Practice Manual (Member Price) MARLS Standard of Practice Manual (Non-Member Price) Contains MARLS current officers, By -Laws and Code of Professional Conduct, alphabetical listing of Montana LS’s and ES’s, Recommended Procedures for Boundary Surveys, State Statutes such as Subdivision and Platting Act, Corner Recordation Act and the Registration Act. Disk available ($20)
$35.00 $55.00
Certified Corner Recordation Form - available at www.marls.com These forms are accepted by the State Board of Registration as being the official state recordation forms. FREE - no charge
NO CHARGE
MARLS Membership Pin - This pin is a ¾ diameter gold colored pin with the MARLS logo. $6.00
MARLS Land Survey Monument Sign ~ (Metal) MARLS Land Survey Monument Sign ~ (Plastic)
$2.00 $1.00
MARLS Decals (3½" diameter) - The MARLS logo decal is the symbol of the association. $.50
DENIM LONG SLEEVE SHIRTS POLO SHORT SLEEVE SHIRT HENLEY SHORT SLEEVE SHIRT ALL SHIRTS HAVE THE MARLS LOGO AND SIZED MEDIUM, LARGE, X-LARGE, OR XXL
$30.00 $38.00 $25.00
MARLS LOGO HATS - Specify type - Gray, Tan/blue bill, Tan/black bill $18.00
Carhart Coat (Gray) Sizes: Medium, Large, XL, XXL Polar Fleece Coat (Colors: Red/Black or Oxford Gray/Black) Sizes : Sm, Med, Lg, XL, XXL, 2XL Polar Fleece Vest (Colors: Oxford Gray/Black) Sizes: Sm, Med, Lg, XL, XXL, 2XL
$95.00 $65.00
$50.00
Shipping and Handling Orders up to $10 add $5 Orders of $10 to $20 add $9 Orders of $20 to $30 add $10 Orders over $30 add $12
TOTAL AMOUNT ENCLOSED $
NEW ITEM: MARLS LOGO BOLO TIES - Made by Peter Olson, PLS
$40.00
MARLS MARKETPLACE
34 TREASURE STATE SURVEYOR
Name ________________________________________________________Montana Registration No. __________________
Contact Person if Business __________________________________________
Home Address _____________________________ City / State / Zip _____________________________________________
Home Telephone ___________________________ Business Telephone ___________________________________________
Fax: _____________________________________ E-mail _____________________________________________________
Employer _________________________________ Address ____________________________________________________
Send mail to Home_________ Office________ City /State / Zip ____________________________________________
Are you registered in any states other than Montana? ______________ If yes, list ___________________________________
What are your specialties? _______________________________________________________________________________
Would you be interested in serving on a Committee for MARLS? ____ Yes ____ No
Class of Membership Applied For:
5 Active LS Membership $170 Any Registered Land Surveyor in good standing in the State of Montana.
5 Associate Membership $50 Any person actively training as a land surveyor under the direct supervision of a licensed professional land surveyor or who is enrolled as a student in a higher education surveying curriculum, and is recommended by an Active, Fellow, or Life Member of MARLS.
5 Affiliate Membership $130 Any person in a profession or business associated with the profession of land surveying who is approved by the MARLS Board of Directors.
5 Sustaining Membership $170 An individual or institution that desires to assist financially in the work of the Association.
5 Sustaining - Health Insurance Membership $170 An individual or institution that desires to assist financially in the work of the Association.
5 Non-Resident LS Membership $130 Any person registered as a Land Surveyor who resides outside Montana and does not practice in Montana.
5 Emeritus Membership $65 Any person who has been registered in the State of Montana as a Land Surveyor, and who otherwise complies with the requirements for Emeritus Status as specified by the State of Montana, Board of Registration for Professional Engineers & Land Surveyors.
5 Student Membership $20 Any person who is enrolled as a student in a higher education surveying curriculum.
I agree to observe the By-Laws of the Montana Association of Registered Land Surveyors and to support it in its endeavors.
Signature ______________________________________________________Date ______________________________
Recruiting Member (PLEASE PRINT)__________________________________________________________________
Visa/MC # _____________________________________________________ Exp. Date:_____________________________
MARLS annual dues are for fiscal year July 1, 2009 - July 1, 2010
RECRUITMENT INCENTIVE PROGRAM Any active member who recruits a new associate member will receive a credit of $5 on his or her dues assessment. Any associate member who recruits a new associate member will receive a credit to his or her dues equal to one-third of the dues assessment. To claim the dues credit, the recruiting member must sign the membership application form along with the new member and note on the application form that it is a recruitment incentive application. TAX INFORMATION: Federal tax law limits the deductibility of membership dues expended for legislative purpose. The 2009-2010 year MARLS reasonably estimates the deductible portion of your dues to be 96%.
$20 of your dues is disbursed towards 4 issues published annually of the Treasure State Surveyor magazine.
Montana Association of Registered Land Surveyors P.O. Box 359, Columbia Falls, MT 59912 Phone: 406-892-4579 Fax: 406-897-2519
Email: [email protected]
MARLS MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION
January 2010 35
BCBS AD Pickup from October issue
36 TREASURE STATE SURVEYOR
MARLS 2010 CONFERENCE
PRE-CONFERENCE SEMINAR FEBRUARY 24, 2010 MARLS CONFERENCE - FEBRUARY 25 & 26, 2010
Great northern hotel, Helena, Montana
MARLS 2010 Conference will be held on February 24 - 26, 2010 Great Northern Hotel in Helena, Montana
Wednesday, February 24, 2010, will be an 8 hour (full day) seminar. February 25th & 26th, MARLS will host concurrent surveying related technical sessions and seminars, MARLS general membership meetings and exhibition hall. Thursday evening events begin with the annual exhibitors’ reception, the MARLS hosted banquet and annual scholarship auction. MARLS has changed the venue of this years conference. We will be holding our annual banquet and awards ceremony on Thursday night followed by the MARLS Scholarship Foundation annual scholarship auction all included in your registration fee along with lunch at the Wednesday seminar, breakfast and lunch on February 25 & 26. The MARLS Board of Directors’ conference meetings will be held at 6PM on Wednesday and Friday. There will be no conference activities after 5PM on Friday, February 26th.
The MARLS Conference Committee is working hard to develop a program track to ensure the 2010 Conference offers value to all segments of the land surveying profession.
u 2010 MARLS Conference - The 2010 MARLS Conference will commence February 24th with a pre-conference seminar beginning at 8:00 AM on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday provides opportunity to attend various concurrent seminars, general membership meetings, visit with exhibitors, participate in surveying related forums, scholarship auction, and banquet including awards ceremony. MARLS is providing attendees concurrent sessions throughout the conference and a list of speakers is provided in the registration packet and also on the MARLS website at www.marls.com.
u Pre-conference Seminar - On Wednesday, February 24, 2010 MARLS will host an eight hour pre-conference seminar.
u Certified Survey Technician Program & Exam - The CST exam will be held during the conference upon request by attendees and is designed to meet the needs of both employers and technicians. Please contact Russ Kluesner if you are interested in taking this exam at the conference.
u Exhibitors - Exhibition Hall will be open throughout the conference.
u Exhibitors Reception - Exhibitors will be on hand Thursday evening before the MARLS banquet.
u MARLS annual scholarship auction follows the banquet and awards ceremony on Thursday evening, February 25, 2010.
u Complimentary Spouse Program - see next page.
u Contact Kay McDonald at 406-892-4579 for further information or go to www.marls.com for updated conference information.
u HOW TO REGISTER: u USE ONLY ONE FORM PER PERSON, PLEASE ~ Make duplicate copies as many times as needed.
ü Register in advance ~ EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION must be received by February 8, 2010. MARLS accepts Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express
ü Purchase orders will only be honored from government, state or city agencies.
ü Contact the Administrative Secretary for a membership application at [email protected] or at www.marls.com
ü REGISTRATION FORMS WILL ALSO BE AVAILABLE ON THE MARLS WEBSITE: www.marls.com
ü Detailed speaker information will be posted on the MARLS website.
Book your sleeping room today!
Conference Host Hotel is the Best Western Great Northern Hotel 835 Great Northern Blvd., Helena, MT 59601
Hotel Room Reservations Code "MARLS" Guest Room Block Rate:
Single or double occupancy plus 7% tax $99 King rooms plus tax $110
King feature rooms plus tax $120 Rates include deluxe breakfast bar and overnight parking
Phone: 406-457-5500 or 1-800-829-4047
www. Bestwestern.com/helenagreatnorthernhotel MARLS banked sleeping room block and rate
at the Great Northern Hotel expire on January 24, 2010
Please note there are only 80 rooms available at the Great Northern Hotel. More conference blocked rooms are available at the Holiday
Inn Downtown just five blocks from the Great Northern Hotel.
Holiday Inn Downtown 22 N. Last Chance Gulch
Helena, MT 59601 Guest Room Block Rate:
Single or double occupancy plus 7% tax $99 King rooms plus tax $110
Phone: 406.443.2200
holidayinn.com/helenadowntown
MARLS banked sleeping room block and rate
at the Holiday Inn Hotel expire on January 23, 2010
January 2010 37
MARLS Conference Spouse Program GREAT NORTHERN HOTEL, HELENA, MONTANA
February 24, 2010 - Wednesday, following registration: Meet and greet Begin quilt to be donated for the MARLS Scholarship Foundation Auction Tour the Cathedral in afternoon Shopping- list of downtown highlights with map
February 25, 2010 - Thursday: Breakfast - Jewelry presentation by Jan Smith Finish quilt with help of Reta Sands 11:45 am - MARLS hosted luncheon at The Montana Club, top floor (lunch served at high noon, speaker begins at 1:00 pm with tour to follow) Speaker for luncheon: Ellen Baumler, speaking on historical women of early Helena - Dress casually or get all dolled up! Parking across from Montana Club - map will be provided at breakfast The Spouse Program includes complimentary Thursday night MARLS banquet ticket with your spouse and the MARLS Scholarship Foundation annual Scholarship Auction.
February 26, 2010 - Friday: Breakfast with “Zag Bag” Party! Design your own designer bag! Let’s get crafty! Vinyl decals on tile and glass. 2:00 pm Capital City Tour Train ride (enclosed train) weather pending.
February 23, 2010 (Tuesday) Registration opens 4:00 - 9 PM
February 24, 2010 (Wednesday) Registration opens 7:00 AM
February 24, 2010 MARLS Pre-conference seminar: Height Modernization, CORS & RTNs – Bill Henning, NGS (8AM - 12PM) followed by Gavin Schrock, PLS presenting a four hour workshop on implementation Lunch and breaks included.
February 24, 2010 - MARLS Board of Directors’ dinner meeting 6:00 PM (Boardroom) February 25 & 26, 2010 MARLS Conference speakers (concurrent sessions): NGS updates - OPUS, GEOID09, Positioning Now and in the Future – Curt Smith Dave's Story - End of Life Planning – Ray Kojetin, Insurance & Financing Field to Finish - Using Civil 3D – Pacificad BLM Manual 2009 edition – Mike Birtles & Jim Claflin, BLM Certified Federal Surveyor Program – Kurt Luebke (Moderator) – Panel Tom Stark, Dan Boers and Craig Brown Documentations of recorded and filing of instruments (difference & types) – Scott Svee, Attorney Monument Certificates and Filing By County – MARLS Forum - Steve Anderson (Moderator), Tom Stark and G. Stewart Nash MT LiDAR, Airborne LiDAR Data Collection and Mapping – Tom Sands Summary of the Last Decade of Boundary - Easement Litigation and Rules in Montana – Randall Snyder, P.C. Land Use Legislation 2009 & Proper Use of Exemptions, Sanitation & Platts Act - The Essentials for Surveyors - "A Surveyor Tool" - MTDEQ Kelly Cassillas, CTAP Steve Kilbreath and Jim Madden DEQ
February 25, 2010 (Thursday) Registration opens at 7:00 AM Breakfast & Opening Ceremonies at 7:00 AM Concurrent Sessions (8AM - 5PM) Lunch & MARLS General Membership Meeting - 12:00 noon Exhibitor’s Reception 5:00 - 6:30 PM (no host bar) and Surveyor Games MARLS Banquet (included in registration fees, Awards Ceremonies and Annual Scholarship Auction 6:30 PM - 10:00 PM (Spouse banquet ticket complimentary)
February 26, 2010 (Friday) Breakfast 7:00 AM Past Presidents Breakfast 7:00 AM Concurrent Sessions (8AM - 5PM) Lunch & MARLS General Membership Meeting 12 noon MARLS Board of Directors Meeting 5:00 PM
Note: Morning & afternoon breaks included throughout the conference sessions to visit with exhibitors. The annual MARLS Banquet is included in your registration fee and spouses are complimentary banquet tickets - Banquet and Awards Ceremony are on Thursday evening followed by the MARLS Scholarship Foundation auction.
38 TREASURE STATE SURVEYOR
Name for Name Tag:
Firm Name for Name Tag: Address:
Phone: EMAIL:
MARLS 2010 CONFERENCE
PRE-CONFERENCE SEMINAR FEBRUARY 24, 2010 MARLS CONFERENCE - FEBRUARY 25 & 26, 2010
Great Northern Hotel, Helena, Montana
METHOD OF PAYMENT: Make checks payable to: MARLS
Check #____________________________ Money Order # ________________ Purchase Order #_____________
Visa/MC/AE/Discover Number
_________________________________________________________________________Exp.______________
Signature for Visa/MC authorization__________________________________________________________________________________
MAIL REGISTRATION TO:
MARLS PO Box 359 Columbia Falls, MT 59912
Email Registrations: [email protected]
FAX REGISTRATION to: 406-897-2519 (be sure to include Visa/MC/AE/Discover number & exp. date)
Any questions call Kay McDonald at 406-892-4579
♦ REFUND POLICY: Full refund will be given if cancellation is prior to February 17, 2010. No refunds after February 17, 2010. ♦ 2010 MARLS Conference fees include Wednesday’s Pre-Conference Seminar lunch and breaks. Thursday and Friday breakfast and lunch, Thursday banquet & MARLS Scholarship Foundation’s scholarship auction and Thursday/Friday breaks. ♦ More information and registration forms available at www.marls.com ♦ MARLS membership applications are available online at www.marls.com
February 24, 2010 - MARLS PRE-CONFERENCE SEMINAR REGISTRATION
“Height Modernization, CORS & RTNs” Membership Type Cost Amount Enclosed MARLS MEMBER $125.00 _______________ MARLS ASSOCIATE MEMBER $ 75.00 _______________ NON-MEMBER $260.00 _______________ STUDENT $ 20.00 _______________
February 25 & 26, 2010 - MARLS CONFERENCE REGISTRATION
Membership Type Cost Amount Enclosed MARLS MEMBER $235.00 _______________ MARLS ASSOCIATE MEMBER $150.00 _______________ NON-MEMBER $425.00 _______________ STUDENT $ 90.00 _______________ TOTAL AMOUNT ENCLOSED $______________
Early bird registration deadline February 8, 2010
Late registration after February 8, 2010 - add $50.00 Spouse Program (no charge) Please check if spouse is attending ____ Name________________________________
_____ # ATTENDING THE BANQUET & MARLS SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION AUCTION (Thursday, February 25, 2010) Spouse banquet ticket complimentary.
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