|

Counties Served
By Chapter 2:

TBPLS Crackdown on Unsigned
Exhibits Announced
The
program for the regular May meeting
of Chapter Two was a presentation by
Garey Gilley, RPLS, LSLS, and
Investigator for the Texas Board of
Professional Land Surveying (TBPLS).
Mr. Gilley gave a report on
discussions at the recent TBPLS
board meeting on the increasing
problem with easement descriptions
and exhibits not being signed and
sealed by the Registered
Professional Land Surveyor
responsible for their preparation.
Mr. Gilley
reported that the board has received
literally hundreds of such
documents, primarily for gas
pipelines. At their June meeting,
the TBPLS board identified at least
3 different rules that such practice
may violate. The TBPLS board
instructed their staff to vigorously
purse investigation of these
potential violations.
Libby
Passes April RPLS Exam; 7 Local
Surveyors Become SITs
Congratulations
to John Lawrence Libby, Jr. of Fort
Worth who passed the April RPLS exam
and is now a Registered Professional
Land Surveyor.
Congratulations
are also due the following local
surveyors who passed the Surveyor In
Training Exam: Noah C. Boydston,
Fort Worth; Graham
Stafford Compton
Jr., Fort Worth; Sage Rauh Earnest, Fort
Worth; Brian Keith Kidd,
Fort Worth;
Matthew Scott Manske, Fort Worth;
Shaun Marvin Piepkorn, Aledo; and
Jesus H. Ruiz, Azle.
Surveying
II: The Advanced Short Course
Surveying
II: the Advanced Short Course is
set for July 26-31, at Texas A&M
University-Corpus Christi. The
course is designed for experienced
survey technicians, office and field
personnel, supervisors and managers
seeking to gain more information
about the legal, technical, and
business aspect of professional
surveying. Instructors for the
course include professionals in the
industry, technical surveying
software and equipment experts, an
expert witness for legal surveying
cases, and Texas A&M
University-Corpus Christi faculty.
This
course is also designed to take both
intro-level and advanced-level
through advanced topics with
hands-on approaches and is useful as
a general review for Registered
Professional Land Surveyors or those
desiring eventual registration. 16
Continuing Education Units are
awarded to those that complete the
course.
Regular
Registration continues through
June 30. Late Registration continues
until 12 noon on July 20.
More
information is available
here.
Date of
Certified Survey Technician (CST)
Exam Changed
The
date for the next CST has been
changed to Saturday August 8, 2009.
The deadline to submit an
application for the exam is fast
approaching so get them submitted to
the TSPS state office as soon as
possible.

SkillsUSA
Bill Coleman announced that a
SkillsUSA team from Birdville High
School took Third Place at the state
competition.

Trig-Star
Chapter Two welcomed winners from
the local
Trig-Star competition. On behalf
of the chapter, Frank Shelton
presented the First and Second
places winners with their awards.
June Meeting
Garey Gilley announced that the
Texas Board of Land Surveying
will be considering measures to
addressed the problem of unsigned
exhibits and field notes
accompanying easements. June’s
meeting will feature a program
addressing this issue.
Searching the Texas GLO
Website

Davey Edwards, RPLS, LSLS, gave a
presentation on how to search and
obtain information online from the
Texas General Land Office. Davey
covered the many different types of
records and maps that are available
from the GLO. He also provided some
valuable tips on ordering
information from the GLO.
For an excel spreadsheet that can be
used to order information from the
GLO,
click here.
Surveyor Billed for Driving Iron Rod
Through Gas Line
Mickey Nowell reported on the
unusual case of a surveyor in East
Texas that punctured a shallow gas
line while driving an iron rod to
mark a property corner. The gas
company has charged the surveyor a
substantial fee to repair the line
based on the claim that under the
law, surveyors are obligated to
contact
DigTESS before driving iron
rods. Mickey reported that the TSPS
state office is monitoring the
situation and will determine how
best to deal with situations like
this.
For a complete meeting report, see
the minutes that will be available
at the next meeting.
Coleman, Freeman, Recognized
Chapter Two’s Bill Coleman, RPLS,
and Chris Freeman, RPLS, from the
Dallas Chapter recently attended the
Duncanville ISD School Board
Meeting, to represent TSPS in
accepting a Special Recognition for
its support of the Duncanville High
School Skills/USA Survey Program.
For more information see the state
website
here.
Or you can watch the presentation
HERE. |