South Dakota Society of Professional Land Surveyors

Also at the PSAN Winter Convention, Gary R. Kent gave a very timely presentation on the new 2011 ALTA / ACSM Land Title Survey Standards. As one of the primary authors of the new Standards, Gary is uniquely qualified to give this presentation.

2011 has also given us some bills of particular interest in both the State Senate and House of Representatives. SB 96 was introduced by SDACO. This bill, on the surface, seems to be a pretty extreme increase in fees as well as a restructuring.

After some discussion with Karen Layher (President of SDACO), SDACO offered to add an amendment to the bill that would maintain the cost of filing Corner Records at $10 instead of raising the fee to $25.

As of this writing, Julie Risty (Minnehaha County Register of Deeds) has reported to me that, because of multiple amendments to the bill in Committee, the Registers of Deeds would no longer support the bill and expected it to die on the Senate floor. She stated that if it didn't die on the floor, the Registers of Deeds would work to have it killed before it got to the House.

Throughout the process, SDACO stated that the Task Force utilized representatives from title companies and banks to craft this bill and that the omission of surveyors was a mere oversight. As surveyors, we must make sure our voices are heard when bills that directly affect us are crafted. Because of SDSPLS involvement with SDACO on this bill, Julie Risty requested that a surveyor be on the Task Force when they re-craft this bill for the 2012 legislature. This is a huge stride forward for SDSPLS.

On the brighter side of the legislature, HB 1180 was proposed by SDSPLS to change some outdated laws. Thanks to Gary Andersh for doing the leg work and getting support from Senator Cutler to get this bill moving. HB 1180 updates SDCL 11-3-2; 21-40-6; and repeals SDCL 43-18-10 which puts the law in line with current common practice. To my knowledge, this bill has had very little opposition and should pass.

Coming to the end of my initial comments for 2011, I realize it has been a pretty busy month for me and for SDSPLS. I look forward to a busy spring and summer and hope that everyone has as busy of a year as they want but not so busy that they forget what is important.
Mark Johnson

2011 SDSPLS President



		The Annual Convention of the South Dakota Society of Professional Land Surveyors is intentionally set early in January so that it lands at the slow time of year for surveyors. It seems that in my case, however, it is a very busy season. With hockey season in full swing it seems I spend every other weekend in a hockey rink cheering on my youngest son, Tyler, and the Yankton Hockey Team. This year was especially busy with my eldest son, Zach, reporting for Basic Combat Training at Fort Sill, OK. I guess his attempt to escape the cold winter has backfired a little. The 28th Annual SDSPLS Convention went off without a hitch, as always, thanks to the hard work and detailed planning by Janelle. James D. Claflin, PLS and Robert W. Dahl gave a great presentation on the use of the 2009 Manual with excellent background information. Becki Lemke gave a very interesting presentation on Understanding Personalities in the Workplace. Although it was very entertaining it gave some insight to understand coworkers and family members. Steve Peters gave a great presentation concerning a mentoring program. This program has great potential but will take effort on the part of experienced surveyors. Every day we all work within a niche we have created for ourselves. In doing so we limit the Surveyors in Training that we mentor to the areas in which we specialize. The mentoring program will give the SIT's the opportunity to experience other niches and will make them better rounded surveyors. In turn it will make all firms that participate better as well. So far this year, I have had the opportunity to attend the Professional Surveyors Association of Nebraska Winter Convention in Omaha. The familiar topic of Double Monumentation was presented by John "Steve" Parrish. Although it is a familiar topic, Steve gave his perspective of how and why it happens and ways to avoid it.		Also at the PSAN Winter Convention, Gary R. Kent gave a very timely presentation on the new 2011 ALTA / ACSM Land Title Survey Standards. As one of the primary authors of the new Standards, Gary is uniquely qualified to give this presentation. 2011 has also given us some bills of particular interest in both the State Senate and House of Representatives. SB 96 was introduced by SDACO. This bill, on the surface, seems to be a pretty extreme increase in fees as well as a restructuring. After some discussion with Karen Layher (President of SDACO), SDACO offered to add an amendment to the bill that would maintain the cost of filing Corner Records at $10 instead of raising the fee to $25. As of this writing, Julie Risty (Minnehaha County Register of Deeds) has reported to me that, because of multiple amendments to the bill in Committee, the Registers of Deeds would no longer support the bill and expected it to die on the Senate floor. She stated that if it didn't die on the floor, the Registers of Deeds would work to have it killed before it got to the House. Throughout the process, SDACO stated that the Task Force utilized representatives from title companies and banks to craft this bill and that the omission of surveyors was a mere oversight. As surveyors, we must make sure our voices are heard when bills that directly affect us are crafted. Because of SDSPLS involvement with SDACO on this bill, Julie Risty requested that a surveyor be on the Task Force when they re-craft this bill for the 2012 legislature. This is a huge stride forward for SDSPLS. On the brighter side of the legislature, HB 1180 was proposed by SDSPLS to change some outdated laws. Thanks to Gary Andersh for doing the leg work and getting support from Senator Cutler to get this bill moving. HB 1180 updates SDCL 11-3-2; 21-40-6; and repeals SDCL 43-18-10 which puts the law in line with current common practice. To my knowledge, this bill has had very little opposition and should pass. Coming to the end of my initial comments for 2011, I realize it has been a pretty busy month for me and for SDSPLS. I look forward to a busy spring and summer and hope that everyone has as busy of a year as they want but not so busy that they forget what is important. Mark Johnson 2011 SDSPLS President