MINUTES Maryland Society of Surveyors Board of Directors Meeting April 27, 2010 Offices of Dewberry, Lanham, MD 1. CALL TO ORDER: President Steve Jones called the meeting to order 4:00 PM. Those in attendance were: Steve Jones, President Tim Quinn, President-elect & Government Affairs Chair John Campbell, Vice President Cynthia Baxter, Secretary Don Remmers (Treasurer) Barry Hoyle (Appalachian) Mike Davis (Potomac) Wayne Hunt (Southern) Jeff Hubbard (Upper Eastern Shore) James Shaw, Area Director James Whitehead, Area Director Keith Bailey, Past President George Wigfield, Education Chair Mark Husik, Executive Director Rona Goldberg, Associate Director 2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: Agenda approved as submitted. 3. ANNOUNCEMENTS: The Governor will be signing the Statute of Repose legislation on either May 4 or May 20. The schedule is not available to May 3. 4. MINUTES: The minutes of the February 2010 and March 2010 were approved as distributed. The minutes of the April 8, 2010 teleconference were amended under the Government Affairs update to reflect that SWM regulations passed in the AELR committee and that HB 1125 has been withdrawn. 5. CORRESPONDENCE: Discussion on online course offerings. 6. PRESIDENTS REPORT (Jones): a. Have attended chapter meetings: i. Baltimore Chapter Terry Hastings has sent comments on the 2011 ALTA standards to Gary Kent ii. Southern Chapter TrigStar testing next week and volunteers are still needed. b. Visited representatives on Capitol Hill to request TrigStar funding. c. Status of National Surveyors Museum in Illinois a. LICENSING OF PHOTOGRAMMETRISTS (Bailey): First draft is completed and has been sent to the Committee for review and comment. Discussion will take place at May meeting.
7. PRESIDENT-ELECT S REPORT (Quinn): [REPORT submitted by Tim Quinn] ` Attended the April 7, 2010 Board of Registration meeting John Mettee called the meeting to order at 9:40AM. Tom Orisich was absent as he was attending an NCEES event out of state. Complaint Committee Report No new complaints were filed in March 9 complaints pending 08 LS 06 In pre-charge. Possible gross misconduct. 10 LS 01 Chairman drafting response to the parties. 10 LS 05 Chairman drafting response to the parties. 10 LS 06 Waiting on response from complainant. 10 LS 09 Board sent response to complainant. 10 LS 10 Committee received 12 new pages of information to review.. 10 LS 12 Closed. 10 LS 13 Closed. Violating company is no longer in business. One pending complaint has not been assigned a number. The complaint committee discussed reinstating a license that lapsed in 1999. The licensee still holds licenses in other states and is up-to-date with the CPC requirements in those states. The complaint committee recommends reinstating the license if the applicant obtains 8 CPC units in ethics. A motion was made, seconded and the board voted to accept the complaint committee s recommendation. Correspondence The board discussed correspondence related to limiting liability on a subdivision where one surveyor certified to the perimeter boundary and a second surveyor certified to the interior subdivision. The board made it clear that both surveyors are equally liable in this case. The board would like MSS to assist in getting word out to our members regarding this issue. New Business Harry Loleus discussed the special fund. New Business - MSS discussion with the board. I mentioned John Campbell s efforts to compile information related to the minimum standards review. I mentioned the re-emergence of Woman s Utility Survey. Don Ocker will contact Wayne Hunt and Bill Mehafee to discuss the particulars of the as-built based on Woman s Utility Survey data that appeared on a Mehafee design.
Old Business The senate confirmed Don Ocker s continuing on the board. 8. VICE PRESIDENT S REPORT (Campbell): Will report under respective committees. 9. EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS REPORT (Husik): Complaint has been filed with the State Board. 10. TREASURER S REPORT (Remmers): Need to be talking about next year s budget. BOD will meet one hour earlier at Dutch s Daughter next month 11. MEMBERSHIP: a. Chapter elections are to be completed by July 15 th. b. The slate of officers for 2010-2011 will be presented at the May meeting. c. Lists of lapsed members have been sent to all the chapter chairs for follow up. d. New member applications were approved. GENERAL SESSION: 1. CHAPTER REPORTS & AREA DIRECTOR REPORTS: APPALACHIAN: April meeting in Frederick featured a book signing and talk by Civil War historian, Dan Toomey on Maryland Soldiers North and South. Meeting next week in Hagerstown will be a business meeting. BALTIMORE: reported by President Jones earlier CARROLL: Director of Stormwater Management program in Carroll County was speaker. CHESAPEAKE: HOWARD: LOWER EASTERN SHORE: POTOMAC: Review of minimum standards. SOUTHERN: Discussion on Minimum Standards; ALTA and TrigStar. Next meeting in July. SUSQUEHANNA: Discussion on minimum standards, photogrammetry, membership. Next meeting will delve more deeply into minimum standards. UPPER EASTERN SHORE: Set up booth at high school Career Day for career possibilities. GMM will be at Clearview in July with program on FEMA s new Tidal Study to complete flood maps. WESTERN: 2. AREA DIRECTORS: a. James Shaw nothing to report on individual chapters. Putting together a seminar on laser scanning at St. Michael s. Some of the ExCom met earlier today with representatives from an insurance company to discuss group benefits life, dental, vision, disability, etc. b. Jim Whitehead Chapters are all meeting and doing what they need to do. 3. NSPS GOVERNOR S REPORT (Dragoo): Alan is attending the ACSM conference in AZ.
4. PUBLICATIONS (Banzhoff): Please send any ideas or contributions to Bob Banzhoff at bob.banzhoff@acsm.net. 5. WEBSITE (Jones): Transition to new site is still ongoing. It is hoped to be online by this summer. 6. EDUCATION (Wigfield): Committee will be meeting soon to structure next year s courses. All ideas are welcome. Currently planned: Sediment Control Class starts in June 6/11/10 Annual St. Michael s Crab Feast and seminar at Chesapeake College 7/16/10 - Red Book Seminar at Allegany College a. CST Thank you to Mike Davis for proctoring the exam at the conference. 7. TRIGSTAR (Whitehead): Testing will be held this week and through next Wednesday. Wayne Hunt asked for volunteers to help with testing in St. Mary s County. Discussion on amount of awards for TrigStar winners. 8. EDUCATION FOUNDATION (Burke): No report 9. 2010 SPRING CONFERENCE: Working on financials 10. 2010 FALL CONFERENCE: Working on course selections and social events. Golf was suggested at Bay Side Golf Course. John Andrews has set up a fishing classic on Thursday. 11. SUSTAINING MEMBERS (Smith): No report 12. GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS (Quinn): [Report submitted by Tim Quinn] Tim Quinn and the Committee received a standing ovation for their work this past year. Status of bills the Governmental Affairs Committee monitored in the 2010 session Statute of Repose Senate Bill 531 passed, takes effect October 1, 2010. State Board for Professional Land Surveyors Sunset Extension SB147 - passed & approved by the Governor, takes effect October 1, 2010. Marine Contractors HB987 passed, takes effect October 1, 2010 Licensing Fee Justification SB454 passed, takes effect October 1, 2010. Contractor s Indemnification HB168 - passed, takes effect October 1, 2010. Minority Business Enterprises HB268 - withdrawn. Public Institutions of Higher Learning Notification for New Design and Substantial Exterior Modification HB348/SB33 did not pass.
Blue Ribbon Commission on Transportation Funding SB229 - passed, takes effect October 1, 2010. Construction and Development - Permits and Approvals - Expiration Dates HB1344 -? Underground Facilities - Damage Prevention SB911 - passed, takes effect October 1, 2010. Stormwater Management - Development Projects - Redevelopment and Preliminary Plan Approval Emergency regulations passed in AELR on March 22 and became effective immediately. The emergency regulations are effective for 6 months. Attended the Maryland Council of Design Professionals meeting on April 5, 2010. Discussed the status of legislation. Discussed appropriation of the special fund. Member organizations will compile a list of items they would like to see the remainder of the special fund used for. The list will be discussed and refined at the May 3 design council meeting. The most important items will be presented to the licensing boards. Discussed the implementation issues involving the 2007 SWM Act. 13. PAC (Campbell): Planning on sending out a fundraising appeal to raise funds for the PAC. 14. ETHICS & PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE (Campbell): Wayne Hunt discussed his complaint with the woman s surveying company. 15. SURVEY STANDARDS AND PRACTICE (Campbell): John Campbell discussed the Craigslist posting that he has forwarded to the BOR as a complaint. 16. PUBLIC RELATIONS (Banzhoff): No report 17. STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE (Campbell): Drafting an email to be sent out to committee to weigh in on the plans. 18. NEW TECHNOLOGIES COMMITTEE: Goal of this committee should be to alert our members of what is coming down the road. 19. OLD BUSINESS a. Mentoring Committee is still available to visit chapters. President Jones would like to see the program expanded. Tim Quinn reported that the BOR has indicated to him that our Mentoring program is also being looked at by other licensing boards. b. Construction Stakeout- There are articles in other professional newsletters on this topic. 20. NEW BUSINESS
a. DLLR Special Fund The Board reviewed the list of potential uses for the DLLR special fund and placed them in order of priority. Tim Quinn will report on this at the next Design Council meeting. b. Four Year Degree Jim Whitehead discussed his feelings on this topic and how MSS needs to take the next step to maintain the status of the profession. President Jones would like to establish a committee to review this. Cynthia Baxter volunteered to chair this effort. In closing, President Jones asked the BOD - review the MSS budget for our next meeting - remind chapters of elections - submit any seminar suggestions to George Wigfield - The agenda having been met, the meeting was adjourned at 6:30 PM. Respectfully submitted by Rona Goldberg, Associate Director