BOARD MEMBERS

Professional Members

David W. Gibson, P.S.M.

Chair - Gainesville

Eugene W. Stoner, P.L.S.

Vice-Chair - Ft. Lauderdale

Henry Echezabal, P.L.S.

Tampa

Patricia Gail Oliver, P.S.M.

St. Augustine

Oscar W. Pittman, P.L.S.

Pensacola

Margarita Weidener, P.L.S.

Miami

Charles G. Woodward, P.S.M.

Orlando

Consumer Members

Beth E. Antrim-Berger

Bradenton

Jim Davis

Tallahassee

BOARD COUNSEL

Lealand McCharen

Assistant Attorney General

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Angel Gonzalez, Ph. D.

ADMINISTRATOR

Carrie Flynn

MEETING DATES & PLACES

Board Meetings

September 26-27, 1996 - Orlando

January 16-17, 1997 - Tallahassee

May 22-23, 1997 - Tampa

BOARD OFFICE

1940 North Monroe Street

Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0756

Phone: (904) 488-9912

Fax: (904) 922-2918

LICENSE STATISTICS

Active Surveyors and

Mappers 2,492

Active Certificates of Authorization 815

On February 23, 1996, the Board conducted a telephone conference call. The purpose of this telephone conference call was to adopt the changes to 61G17-7.002(1) - Seal and Signature; 61G17-6.003 - General Survey, Map and Report Content; 61G17-6.004(1) - Topographic Survey, Map, and Report and 61G17-6.0051 - Control Surveys. By and large the changes were merely technical with the exception of 61G17-7.002(1) - Seal and Signature which sets forth the requirement that the following statement must appear on the survey map and report: "Not valid without the signature and the original raised seal of a Florida licensed surveyor and mapper." Also 61G17-6.004(1) - Topographic Survey, Map, and Report sets forth the requirement that a minimum of two site benchmarks on or near the survey shall be established and indicated upon the survey map. A complete set of the revised rules have been printed and are available upon request from the Board office.

On May 22, 1996 the GIS/GPS Ad hoc Committee met to consider revisions to the committees draft position paper. Later in the newsletter is a full report on the actions of the committee and the full Board. A workshop was also held this date on F.S., Chapter 177, Part 1, Platting.

On May 23, 1996, the Board heard thirteen disciplinary cases that were being prosecuted against licensees and business entities by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. The majority of the cases involved alleged misconduct and violations of MTS, some of which were sufficient to constitute negligence or incompetence in the practice of surveying and mapping, one case concerned a certificate of authorization, three cases involved failure to comply with the terms of a final order of the Board or a final judgment in a civil proceeding. Three informal hearings were to be held for application denials, however two of the applicants requested continuances, which were granted, and one applicant withdrew the request for an informal hearing. There were two appearances for request for reinstatement of licenses.

Also on May 23, 1996, the Probation Committee met. Prior committee minutes were approved, survey reviews were conducted, and the stay was lifted on the suspension of the licenses of two probationers who were found to be in non-compliance with the terms of a final order of the Board. Concluding the committee meeting was a review of the probation report. Included in this newsletter is a list of suspended, revoked, and voluntary relinquished licenses.

On the afternoon of May 23, 1996 and during the morning of May 24, 1996 the Board approved prior minutes, heard reports from Board Counsel, the probation committee, the application committee, the examination committee, the N.C.E.E.S. committee, the legislative committee, the A.C.S.M. liaison, the finance committee, the Surveyor/Engineer liaison, the newsletter committee, the probable cause panel, the Surveying and Mapping council liaison, the post secondary education committee, and the ad hoc committee on GIS/GPS. The Board also considered several letters and staff reports.

GIS/GPS COMMITTEE REPORT

The following position paper was accepted and ratified by the full Board as their position on GIS/GPS and its applicability to Surveying and Mapping:

Coverage of Ch. 472 F.S., the practice act for Surveying and Mapping, has become worrisome to those who perform minor mapping activities incidental to other work. The public expects the regulatory process to give a base level of protection to consumers of survey and map information, however, if there is little chance of public damage by an activity, then little regulation is called for.

Committee Recommendation #1: That the education and experience section of the existing Ch. 472 F.S. should be studied to find methods of bringing a broader sector of four-year degrees into the registration process. In addition, the Board should look at methods of documenting areas of expertise, perhaps through Continuing Education provisions.

Committee Recommendation #2: It is unclear whether the following activities fall under Ch. 472 F.S., but the Committee feels they are outside of the regulatory interest of the Board of Professional Surveyors and Mappers, provided that the measuring and mapping is done in-house by the staff of the organization that will be the primary user.

1. Measuring and mapping items of a resource nature only for purpose of managing that resource.*

2. Measuring and mapping thematic data for scientific study or geographic analysis, provided that the theme data, either vector or raster, is adjusted to base coordinate framework produced consistent with Ch. 472 F.S.**

3. Producing photo images (either hard copy or digital) that are presented in such a way that the general public cannot extract absolute positions of displayed features.***

4. Secondary mapping relying exclusively on archival information, converting maps from one form to another, and performing cartographic manipulation.****

* Good examples would be forest type mapping, mapping grass beds, mapping ground water distributions, mapping for game management plans, mapping accident locations for safety analysis, etc., but not including measuring and mapping regulated resources for documentation of locations in response to federal, state or local law. This type of work affects land rights, value, and use and should have supervision by a licensed person.

** Examples of theme data would be botany, soils, geology, hydrology, etc. including only enough base data to permit registering the theme data to a recognized base map such as USGS quad sheets, DLG's, DOQQ's, or large-scale base information produced by a licensed surveyor and mapper. In such cases, the coordinate basis of the theme should be adjusted to the coordinate base of the controlling base map. Measuring and mapping data for base map purposes, such as the public land survey system, road base lines, right-of-way lines, land parcel, and major structures is relied upon by a wide variety of innocent users and should be supervised by a licensed professional.

*** Delivering photos or images in absolute position such as state plane, latitude and longitude, or Universal Transverse Mercator implies their suitability for overlay with another similarly produced map product. Without expression of absolute position, potential misuse and damage is greatly reduced, for example, approximately scale aerial photo enlargements without coordinate grids, and images of all sort that have not been rectified to true earth coordinate position.

**** Example activities are appraisal parcel mapping, digitizing, applying cartographic warping functions, scale and orientation changes. However, licensed professionals should supervise primary spatial data capture by taking original measurements from an original look at the ground, except for the exclusions in #1, and #2.

The Continuing Education Committee will study and address Committee Recommendation #1.

The Rules Committee Chair Beth Antrim-Berger, Board Counsel Lealand McCharen, and Board Chair David Gibson will study rule making to address Committee Recommendation #2.

REPORT ON PROPOSED REVISIONS TO F.S. CHAPTER 177, PART 1, PLATTING

The Ad Hoc Committee to Study Revisions to Chapter 177, Part 1, Platting was created in May 1993, by the Board of Professional Surveyors and Mappers. The Committee consisted of a cross-section of Surveyors and Mappers, including those in private practice, government and education. The Committee met almost monthly from May 1993 until December 1993. At the December 1993 Board meeting the proposed revisions were presented to the full Board by Committee Chair Greg Clary. With some minor changes the Board approved the proposed revisions. Because Chapter 177 does not regulate the profession the proposed revisions were not included in the Department of Business and Professional Regulation legislative package for 1994. Since that time the Board has had the opportunity to revisit the proposed revisions in June 1995, September 1995, August 1995, March 1996 and May 1996. At the May 1996 Board meeting the proposed revisions were presented by Gail Oliver, again with some minor changes the Board approved the proposed revisions. It is anticipated that the proposed revisions will be before the legislature at their next session.

LICENSE RENEWAL AND CONTINUING EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS

Rule 61G17-5.0031 Continuing Education Credit for Biennial Renewal is still in effect. Every person licensed pursuant to Chapter 472, F.S. must obtain at least 24 continuing education credits per biennium. At least 6 of the 24 credits must be obtained by attending an approved provider's course or seminar on Florida's minimum technical standards or an approved provider's course or seminar on Florida's laws affecting the practice of surveying and mapping. If you have moved or failed to file a change of address, please do so immediately. Renewal notices will be mailed in November.

UNLICENSED ACTIVITY - CONTRACT FIELD CREWS

The Board has received correspondence regarding contract survey crews and whether this is considered unlicensed activity. The rules committee of the Board will be studying this issue. There are states that specifically prohibit contract survey crews without a licensed surveyor and mapper employed. Until the issue is studied and if appropriate, rules are adopted, it is up to the profession and the public to report these activities to the Department of Business and Professional Regulation for investigation. Each new and renewed professional license is assessed $ 5 per biennium to combat unlicensed activity.

DISCIPLINARY ACTION REPORTED

At the May meeting the Board accepted settlement stipulations between the Department of Business and Professional Regulation and the following licensees against whom the Department had filed complaints: Gary Barnes Castel (LS 0004129) and Charles Robert DeFoor (LS 0004189) both resulting in a reprimand; Bruce Allen Lindh (LS 0004306), Allen Keith Nobles (LS 0003562), and Hardoowar Singh (LS 0004575) resulting in fine, suspension with suspension stayed to allow for a period of probation including an MTS seminar and survey review; Alan D. Platt (LS 0004664) resulting in a fine and a letter of reprimand; Richard S. Yarb (LS 0003415) resulting in a fine. The Board rejected proposed settlement stipulations between the Department and Arthur Knickerbocker Garwood (LS 0004193) and Michael Glenn Heath (LS 0004418) but offered a counterproposal which included a fine, suspension with suspension stayed to allow for a period of probation including an MTS or other seminar and survey review which, if accepted by the parties, will resolve the disciplinary case between them. The Board accepted the Department's Motions for Default and imposed penalties for Edward B. Lyon (LS 0002657) resulting in suspension of license and James F. Nash (LS 0002264) resulting in revocation and a fine. The license that was revoked was for the licensees failure to comply with a previously entered final disciplinary order of the Board. The Board accepted voluntary relinquishment of the license of Corbett Horne, Jr. (LS 0003048). In the matter of Walter Venega (LS 0003106) payment of a judgment must be tendered in a civil proceeding to avoid revocation of the license.

In other action, Russell Mohr (LS 0003995) and Ralph Purvis (LS 0001955) appeared before the Board to request reinstatement of their licenses. Mr. Mohr having submitted surveys for review and those surveys being found in substantial compliance with MTS was granted reinstatement of his license. Mr. Purvis having obtained 36 continuing education hours was also granted reinstatement of his license.

COMPLAINT REPORT

Total complaints received by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation

Fiscal Year : Number of Complaints

90/91 : 117 91/92 : 105 92/93 : 115 93/94 : 255 94/95 : 118 07/01/95 to Present : 51

REMINDER: 61G17-2.005 - Statement Regarding Lack of Insurance. In addition to the office sign required by Section 472.015, F.S., if neither the business entity nor the individual licensee has professional liability insurance, the map and the report, if there is a report, must contain the following printed statement in letters at least 1/8" high: The survey depicted here is not covered by professional liability insurance.

SUSPENDED LICENSES

Craft, Donald A.

Hutchins, Bobby F.

Lyon, Edward B.

Makemson, Robert W.

Tash, Bertin C.

Turso, Robert A.

Schular, Harold A.

Snyder, Thomas E.

Sutherland, Stephen C.

Wilson, Ned

REVOKED LICENSES

Blackmon, Julius Lemay

Bolt, Frederick R.

Coffell, Laythel Shane

Cool, Carl

Dohm, Lars

Forsman, Robert V.

Gerber, Robert H.

Heasley, Dennis

Henderson, Olive C.

Holt, John D.

Hunt, Gary D.

Nash, James F.

Webster, William James

VOLUNTARY RELINQUISHED LICENSES

Bradley, Clopton

Hanson, Gordon G.

Hodge, Ernest D.

Horne, Corbett

Nassau Land Planning

Short, John

West, C.W.

Wilkinson, Buddy

PLEASE NOTE CORRECTIONS TO RULES

Rule 61G17-4.004(3) should read as follows:

"Scores on the examination will be reported as follows: The Principles and Practice Examination, the Fundamentals Examination, the Florida Jurisdictional Multiple Choice Examination and the Florida Jurisdictional Essay Examination shall have separate scores. Four passing scores must be received in order to successfully pass the examination; however, these four passing scores need not be obtained in one sitting."

Rule 61G17-6.002(8)(k) makes reference to "purposes detailed in (7)(a)-(j) or (l) of this rule." Clearly, the referenced subparagraph (7) is now (8) and the reference should now read "purposes detailed in (8)(a)-(j) or (l) of the rule."

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