Survey Recording Backward and Forward

1. Survey Recording Backward and Forward

2. Public Land Survey Office • WSACA 2019 • Presented by: • Bob R. Knuth, PLS – Manager • with the support of & his staff of 5.25

3. TOPICS • Bob and his goals • Ya’ll take a bow • Surveyors-Personalities and the Profession • How can we help? • How I use you • Newish stuff • Who is doing what? Scanning, recording and charging around the state

4. 1 Christian ManIn the work from the age of 18. Licensed up and down the West Coast and federally registered. In government for the last twenty-five years.Born to be a servant and passionate about pubic service Bob Knuth aka K-Paw by his Grandchildren

5. Bob and the PLSO’s short term goals • Stop any, all, and every, conflict between surveyors and recorders. • Make personal relationships as we move forward in smoothing out the processes that bind us together. • Create stakeholder lists composed of willing, cooperative, individuals and groups. Bob and the PLSO’s long term goals • Work with stakeholders to search out ways, within the legislative process, to make updates and changes to relevant statutes. • Assist the WSACA and the SAB to come together in the committee required by RCW 58.09.110 to update WAC 332-130-050

6. 2 The improvements that are obvious • Fewer surveys which are CLEARLYout of compliance with the checklist in regards to legibility. • Only two reported Surveyor - Recorder conflicts over the last seven months. • Outreach by Recorders to the PLSO and the SAB on issues concerning their offices.

7. 3 “Mr. G” • One of Bob’s professional mentors. • Highly qualified and proven surveyor. • PLS in several states. • Vice President in a midsized survey and engineering company. • President and principle of his own firm. • “You finally met The State’s minimum.” • “Woman you are confused”.

8. BALLOON TIME • Maybe a high school education and gets a job in surveying (PUFF) • Physically fit and tough throughout his 20s, 30s. Stories to tell with witnesses. (PUFF) • Has struggled and worked from mountain top to mountain top and cliff to cliff. (PUFF PUFF) • Achieved the goal of Licensed Professional Land Surveyor. (PUFFF PUFF PUFF) • Spent years training and mentoring subordinates resulting in their licensure. (A PUFF for each)

9. AND THEN HE MEETS YOU • A government employee who has never surveyed and, he assumes, couldn’t even read a survey. • Will spend less than ten minutes on my survey and charge me over $160 (one hundred sixty dollars). • Has probably never worked for a living.

11. REJECT MY SURVEY? I oughta kick your ….. • What is “Mr. G” reacting to? • Client pressure • Money pressure • Embarrassment • Indignation born of an inflated sense of pride • OR maybe he is simply a jerk.

12. The Land Survey Profession • To become a professional land surveyor either by exam or by comity (interstate registration): • You must have a minimum of 8 years approved land surveying experience. • Education required \ None

13. 4 The PLSO and its support team has over two hundred years of experience.

14. What can we do for you? We advise you to use the checklist and nothing else when rejecting surveys. Even when material is supplied by the PLSO.

15. One possible way to keep it easy

17. The primary reason I appreciate you folks is:

18. What should ask for? Not what you can expect. In a perfect world the survey was produced with recordability and completeness in mind. • You should receive a hard copy or copies on a medium acceptable to you. • A hardcopy of a completed Auditor’s checklist. This should be initialed or signed by two people one of which should be the LS signing the map. The PLSO will be stressing this at EVERY OPPORTUNITY.

19. 5 How do I use you? • In the following case one of my staff came across a survey without a Surveyor’s Certificate. • Notice I did not need to cut away the Auditor’s Certificate to protect the Recorder because the County is not identified in the Certificate. • You are my number one source for surveyor errors that will help me help them.

20. The missing Surveyors Certificate was only the trigger to a three page letter of comments by the PLSO to assist this surveyor in his resurvey.

21. RCW 58.09.110 Duties of county auditor. The auditor shall accept for recording those records of survey and records of corner information that are in compliance with the recorder's checklist ….......... (NOTE: This is the checklist in WAC 332-130-050)

22. 6 Things, thoughts, and changes. • Plotter medium. • Scanned Signatures. • LCR update • Double Signatures (Again)

23. Poly what? That ain’t right.

24. Big-old-oops

25. NEW LCR

26. In .pdf format only. • Page 2 can only record text. • Page 3 can only receive images.

27. Double SignaturesSheeeze, why don’t we just change the law? • WACs are easy • RCWs are difficult • WAC 196.23.050 requires the stamp to be signed. This is for anything the surveyor signs NOT JUST SURVEYS. So we can’t do away with the requirement. • WAC 332-130-050 requires the survey certificate original signature. In addition this requirement is also in RCW 58.090.080 SOOOO, we are stuck with it.

28. Sometimes its legibility sometimes its just “This feels better to me.”

29. In just a few cases legibility isn’t caused by surveyors. The PLSO indexes from 11”X17” maps The good part of this one is the County is identified. We like this mo-better. Which page of what County? If it is larger we will make fewer mis-reads.

30. OTHER ISSUES / QUESTIONS THAT HAVE COME UP • VICINITY MAP LEGIBILITY, PHOTOS, REALLY? • HATCHING • LINES OVER TEXT • TOPO ON DROP OUT LAYERS • ANOTHER WORD FOR DROPOUT IS GRAYSCALE. • The SAB IS WORKING ON A BLAMO.

31. REJECTING A MAP I included this slide to show that nothing really changes but the day. • LINE THROUGH TEXT OR SYMBOLS • CONTRAST – TOO LIGHT, TOO DARK • MISSING SIGNATURES • MISSING RECORDING CERTIFICATE • GRAYSCALE LINES/TEXT/HATCHING • IF THERE ARE ANY LEGIBILITY ISSUES

32. 7 • Do you have someone or a group review the checklist for you? • Do you scan or use a copier for a legibility test? • How do you file condo amendments? • Are you filing surveys by Volume and Page, by AFN, or both? • Are you charging the $64 portion of the recording fee for all small docs you send to the PLSO? • What do you want to know about the PLSO, DNR, or Surveyors?

33. COMING SOON TO A RECORDING OFFICE NEAR YOU…