Conference Wrap-Up........................pg 10 2022 AwardWinners.........................pg 14 The Oregon January/February 2023 A publication of the Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon Jered McGrath 2022 Surveyor of the Year
Editorials From the PLSO Chair, by Tim Fassbender, PLS, PLSO Board Chair 2 From the PLSO Office, by Aimee McAuliffe, PLSO Executive Secretary 4 2023 Annual Conference Annual Conference Sponsors 8 Wrapping Up the 2023 Conference 10 2022 Award Winners Recognized 14 Surveyor of the Year 18 Columns The Lost Surveyor, by Pat Gaylord, PLS 22 On the Cover Jered McGrath, 2022’s Surveyor of the Year, took this photo of himself on Mount Hood. The Oregon Surveyor is a publication of the Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon (PLSO). It is provided as a medium for the expression of individual opinions concerning topics relating to the Land Surveying profession. Address changes & business All notifications for changes of address, membership inquiries, and PLSO business correspondence should be directed to Aimee McAuliffe, PO Box 230548, Tigard, OR 97281; 503-303-1472; execdirector@plso.org. Editorial matters & contributions of material The Oregon Surveyor welcomes your articles, comments, and photos for publication. PLSO assumes no responsibility for statements expressed in this publication. Editorial matters should be directed to Vanessa Salvia, vsalvia@gmail.com. Advertising policy Advertising content and materials are subject to approval of the PLSO Board and LLM Publications. The publisher reserves the right to reject any advertising that simulates copy; material must be clearly marked as “Advertisement.” For advertising, contact: Ronnie Jacko, ronnie@llmpubs.com; 503-445-2234, 800-647-1511 x2234. A publication of the Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon Executive Secretary Aimee McAuliffe PO Box 230548 Tigard, OR 97281 503-303-1472 Toll-free: 844-284-5496 execdirector@plso.org www.plso.org Published by LLM Publications 503-445-2220 • 800-647-1511 www.llmpubs.com Advertising Ronnie Jacko, ronnie@llmpubs.com Design Jon Cannon © 2023 LLM Publications Editor Vanessa Salvia Publications Committee Tim Kent, Interim Chair Pat Gaylord Contents Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon @ORLandSurveyors The Oregon Vol. 46, No. 1 January/February 2023
2 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 46, No. 1 From the PLSO Chair MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR Poll Results Welcome 2023 and welcome to all of you. I’mwriting this article just prior to our 2023 PLSO Annual Conference. How this conference has kept up with the times is admirable. Through the pandemic years, the Conference Committee has made the ability to attend the conference either in person or virtually a more common occurrence and a pleasant experience. Who knew prior to March 2020 more people would be working from home than in the office? Being a traditionalist, I have concerns about how sharing and communicating among staff is handled when people work remote, and how the every-day training that commonly occurs will now take place. But that discussion is for another time. I would like to talk about the results of the poll PLSO sent out to the members. We had more than 50 responses out of 463 members. We were hoping for more responses (and who wouldn’t), but we do thank those of you who took the time to respond and give the Board of Directors direction for this next year. It was interesting to see that 92% of those respondents said they currently volunteer in their community. That shows we do care about our communities and I would hope that would transfer to caring about PLSO and its members. Currently we are seeing a trend of members not stepping up to be chapter officers, and those who are stepping up have filled these positions multiple times. Those of you who fit this scenario, I thank you a million times. One poll question was “What about the experience have you enjoyed about volunteering?” To that question, 80% responded that they felt they made an impact, met new people, felt good about it, and learned from it. Yes, it does take a commitment to volunteer, but my experience is that you take away more from the time you spent than you ever had to give. The next question was “What parts of the volunteer experience need to be improved?” 86% answered that communication from the organization required too much time and nothing got done. I have found this to be a very common experience in any organization which is based on volunteers. Communication among volunteers in any organization is key and how you go about keeping people informed is vital. Nowadays we have so many venues of communication it is more likely to get lost in all the other chat we receive. How we communicate with the members really depends on how you want to receive the information. In other words, speak up, and let us know how to improve. The next question that I was particularly interested in is “What has stopped you from volunteering to be a PLSO Chapter Officer?” 34% either don’t have the time or didn’t want to make the time. Another 20% said it was too stressful or they don’t enjoy it. The remaining responses varied, but mostly fell into the category of “not enough time, too busy, or worried they won’t do a good job at it.” I totally understand the time issue, but you can still help PLSO by reaching out to other members that you feel could do a good job serving PLSO and ask them to step up and serve the organization. The amount of time put into the position is different for each person. It depends on what you and your fellow members want PLSO to achieve. There is never a bad idea brought forth. Withmost ideas, the conversation is usually about “how to implement it.” The question of “Would you serve on the Board of Directors, but not be responsible for chapter meetings?” brought a response of nearly 50/50. I have heard in the past from chapter officers that the hardest duty of the position was coming up with the monthly chapter meeting speaker. The more successful avenue on this problem I have heard is to spread the word among the chapter members on either topics or speakers and ask those Tim Fassbender, PLS PLSO Board Chair Get involved with your chapter, attend the meetings whether they are virtual or in person. Let them know what is on your mind and listen to their problems, because you may have the solution to their problems.
3 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org From the PLSO Chair people to organize the chapter meeting so no one person is burdened with that work. We all have connections that others don’t have on related topics of interest. And remember, not all speakers have to be directly survey related. Some very interesting topics of discussion that I have attended were by the sheriff and city police. From time to time we may have a landowner who refuses to adhere to our Right of Entry law and a law enforcement contact would be a very valuable asset. Consider asking for help with your chapter meetings. The more people involved, the better the chances that it will become easier to handle. 67% responded no to the question, “If you could serve on an Executive Committee that prepared you to become Chairman of the Board, without serving as a Chapter Officer, would that interest you more?” I will take the blame on this question and the lack of communication on what the idea was behind what the executive committee would do for PLSO and how it would function. Currently, we do not have an executive committee. This idea is to prepare those interested in leadership roles within PLSO. We discussed this during our Strategic Planning meeting back in 2019 and due to the pandemic, failed in forming the committee. We will discuss this idea during this next year and see where it leads us. Finally, to the question, “Do you feel that it’s necessary to be a corporate member to serve on the BOD or chapter officer?” 54% said yes. There were a few comments that stated that a non-corporate member who had strong leadership and understanding of their survey profession could be considered. This idea was also discussed at the last strategic planning meeting with the idea that PLSO has associate members who have been with PLSO for many years and are highly regarded within the chapter, but have not obtained their license so therefore would not be a corporate member. These members could be a great asset to PLSO and should have the opportunity to serve if the chapter feels they could do a good job for the organization. In conclusion, once again, thank you to those who took the time to respond to the poll we sent. It helps to know what you are thinking and what direction you can give us. However, the hardest task we have as members of the PLSO Board of Directors is to read your mind. Many of you, I’m sure, during the conference, visited with your fellow surveyors complaining about something, and have in your minds the solution to the problem. The best way I know of obtaining that solution is to get involved and let others know of the problem and your idea on how to find the solution. Without knowing the problem, it is nearly impossible for others to solve it, right? Get involved with your chapter, attend the meetings whether they are virtual or in person. Let them know what is on your mind and listen to their problems, because you may have the solution to their problems. Or at least, you can let them know you share the same problems with them. Ronnie Jacko ronnie@llmpubs.com | 503-445-2234
4 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 46, No. 1 From the PLSO Office Aimee McAuliffe, PLSO Exec. Secretary Things I Learned at the Conference I want to thank everyone who attended the Annual Conference at the Salem Conference Center in January. While walking around and checking on the various details that go into planning and executing a conference, it’s always so nice to see people’s expressions as they greet each other, hear the laughter during breaks and over lunch, and know the ideas that have been shared proves the same thing each year—the number one thing everyone gets out of being a member of a community is the relationships that are formed. Relationships that can bring help on a particularly hard project, new connections for jobs, and true friends. Someone who I feel lucky to have made a connection with is our very own Surveyor of the Year and Conference Chairman, Jered McGrath. The very first conference I attended was when I was introduced as the soon-to-be executive secretary at the 2014 conference. I’m fairly certain that was the first year Jered chaired, having served on the committee already for two years. I accepted the position from the direction of the Board to the hiring task force during the conference. Gary Anderson, who is now retired, called me at home and quickly asked me to show up for lunch the next day, so I can come up on stage and meet the members. For those who don’t know me well, I’m a bit of an introvert and don’t like the spotlight. I’m not sure you’ve heard, but introverts aren’t big on impromptu spotlight lunches with 400 strangers. We like to prepare for stressful things like small talk. With that said, it’s part of the job, so I showed up to the Annual Meeting lunch where I sat next to Jered, who showed up with a planning binder that looked like it weighed 50 pounds. Anybody willing to carry that thing around all day showed me what I know to be true today: I could trust him. That was 10 years ago, and I can honestly say that the next nine conferences we’ve planned together and the four conferences with him on the Board of Directors have proven to me how much he cares about PLSO and all of you. I’ve watched as Jered’s career advanced and his responsibility grew, and have always been impressed with his ability to stay calm, find humor, and articulate forethought and balance on just about any subject. I also know that he’ll tell everybody that I do most of the work on the conference. But he’d be wrong. I may color in the details to make it all happen, but Jered creates the picture by planning the seminar programming. I firmly believe in recognizing the people who show up and Jered shows up for all of us, every year. So, on behalf of every Board of Directors that has served for the past decade (including his own), I thank Jered for his extraordinary dedication and service. Thinking of my first annual meeting 10 years ago, there is one more strong memory connected to how nervous I was— being self-employed. The position I hold with PLSO is by contract and not full-time staff. At the time, I was a newly divorced mom of a 7-year-old little girl, trying to find a way to keep her life on track. The fork in the road was to take a traditional job in an office requiring after school care, or this position that would require a little more hustle, but would allowme to create a life that worked for us both. Making that decision has been extremely rewarding on so many levels throughout the years. Especially now, when I see that she is a National Honor Student and year-round track athlete in her junior year of high school getting ready to apply for college scholarships. Those opportunities might …Industry leaders need to think of themselves as being in the “people” business—finding, keeping, and developing them. Successful firms do not have the option to be passive when it comes to talent, nor can they wait for a “technology solution” to address their people challenges.
5 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org From the PLSO Office not have happened if I wasn’t able to be part of her activities. I like to think PLSO had something to do with that. Bragging about my descendent aside, it’s also given me a little bit of insight about so many of you who run your own small surveying firms. The truth is, when you’re super busy succeeding at your craft, you’re most likely falling behind on something else likemarketing and branding. PLSO offered twomarketing sessions at the conference. The first was “Marketing Your Brand for Recruitment” with Maggie Thornton and JeredMcGrath. Maggie is responsible for developing and implementing strategic marketing and communication plans, researching, and identifying industry trends, leading business development and recruitment, and helping to develop company initiatives, practices, and policies for Westlake Consultants. She provided an introductory course about understanding branding and how it can affect your hiring success, generational differences between Gen Z and Gen Y, and various recruiting vehicles. The session started out explaining that a brand is more than a company logo—it is the entire package that is created to make employees and customers feel and act a certain way. It includes the office environment, fonts, and messaging through things like taglines and proposals. Of course, before any of that may be decided, you have to decide what you want people to feel when thinking of your company. An exercise that the PLSO rebranding task force went through was to tell the group what kind of vehicle described a land surveyor the most. The answer was nearly unanimous—an F150. It was an iconic, classic, dependable, well designed workhorse truck. From there, we worked on how to make people feel that when they thought of PLSO (or really, all of you). It’s something we strive for in everything we do. It also means that I want to convey that feeling to you about me when I’mworking with or for you. At least, that’s the goal. The most interesting part to me about this session was hearing the differences in generational thinking. Everyone thinks we’re all so different. What I got out of it is that, speaking broadly, each generation is productive. We just have different desires and requirements to get there, which is directly related to the life and historic events we’ve experienced. For example, Gen Y (Millennials) grew up during an economic boom, so they are more idealistic. On the other hand, Gen Z (ages 11–26) saw their parents struggle through the recession, so they are more pragmatic. One could argue that most surveyors are pragmatic in general. But remember, we’re talking about how people want to shape their lives. I can tell you from experience with my own daughter that this is really true. She is up-to-date on the news and discusses it with me. She just happens to learn it from TikTok. Gen Z is alsomore ethnically diverse than any other generation in history, which is why Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is going to be a real hot topic you hear about as they get older. But here’s the kicker—Gen Z would gladly take a pay cut if it meant working for a company that shared their morals, principles, and ideals. Guess how that’s shared? If you answered branding, you’d be right. Maggie shared that according to the employment agency Robert Half, the top job search priorities for Gen Z are: 1. Growth opportunities 2. Generous pay 3. Making a positive impact 4. Job security 5. Healthcare benefits 6. Flexible hours 7. Manager they can learn from Gen Z characteristics as a whole include: • 77% expect to work harder than previous generations • 74% prefer in-person collaboration in small groups • 93% desire a manager they can learn from • 91% name professional development and training opportunities as a priority • Desire straightforward feedback and clear performance standards and authenticity Looking at these two lists makes me feel good about the future. Generational differences don’t have to be good or bad. They are just different. It’s like learning a new culture and language. It feels foreign and wrong at first, but once you learn those two things an entire world of opportunity opens up. As you read this, youmay be thinking, “Well, they need to get with the program and conform to the world as it is.” To that I would suggest you ask yourself why you feel that an entire workforce should conform to your comfort level when there are infinite opportunities out there to address their needs and concerns? Nobody wants to spend eight hours a day feeling miserable, and as a company that needs to hire young professionals, you are in the people business. Maggie shared a quote from Morrisey & Goodale’s December 12 newsletter “Word on the Street”: “…Industry leaders need to think of themselves as being in the “people” business— finding, keeping, and developing them. Successful firms do not have the option to be passive when it comes to talent, nor can they wait for a “technology solution” to address their people challenges.” Professional organizations have always known they are in the people business and strive to work on providing ways to develop them. But we can only do somuch without the involvement of our members promoting the profession as well. One such person who has been doing an extraordinary job is Trent Keenan out of Las Vegas. Trent spoke about promoting the profession at the conference on Friday. It was streamed and recorded. So, if you attended the conference, but missed “Mapping the Path for the Next Generation,” it is currently available to watch on theWhova app for the next three months (as well as all the streamed content). Trent heads “Mentoring Mondays,” which is described as an online meeting place for anyone wanting to learn more about surveying. Whether you are a freshman in college or a 50-year professional land surveyor, they have a weekly zoom forum hosted by a rotating series of guest speakers. You can learn more by heading over to www. mentoringmondays.xyz. Trent’s enthusiasm about promoting our profession is catching. In the session, he shares logistics about the profession. Something he shared that I found interesting was that nationally 1,044 people took the FS exam for the first time, with 64% passing. There were 585 repeat test takers, with 46% passing (further diving will have to explain to us what’s going on with the repeat test takers). From there he explained 937 were fully on the way to licensure. From this grouping, the average age passing the FS exam was 34. For the PS exam, 596 were first timers, with 68% passing while the 228 repeat takers experienced a 41% pass rate. This worked out to be 498 fully on the path to licensure. The average age was 38. It seems we as a profession are consistently being found for people later in life, showing how important it is to promote to continues
6 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 46, No. 1 high school students. As an overall trend, there were 34,725 single licensed land surveyors in the United States. For a point of reference, there were 37,805 in 1997. In summary, Trent explained that 43.8% of licensed surveyors are over the age of 61, which means we will lose approximately 15,000 licensed surveyors over the next 10 years. To make this up we need 1,500 surveyors passing the PS exam and then their state exam. None of this is particularly new to hear, but seeing it in quantifiable data is helpful. So, where do we go from here? Trent suggests creating a full path from kindergarten to licensure that focuses on outreach, education, and workforce development. Throughout the session he shared quite a few promotional materials and opportunities available for people to use. One such source for us all is www.getkidsintosurvey. com. Another fun experience is the Future City Competition, which includes a Best Surveying Practices Award. This program is for middle schoolers and you can find it at https://futurecity.org. Trent also discussed the importance of CTE programs, including Oregon’s upcoming CTE Conference in April. I could go on about all the great ideas that came out of this session and hope to see Trent come back to share more with us in the future. Another item of note is this year’s Annual Membership Meeting, which is held on Thursday the week of the conference, where I share working details about PLSO. As a reminder, PLSO is run by a State Board of Directors that is made up of representatives from each chapter of the state. The Board works off two budgets. One is the balance sheet, which keeps them up to date on what is in the bank. As of December 31, 2022, our end-of-year financials totaled $355,468.14, splitting between $112,528.58 in the reserve money market fund and $242,939.56 in checking. This time every year we tend to be a little high because we’ve taken in nearly all of our income for the conference but haven’t paid any of the bills. On average, in a non-world-closing pandemic year, the conference costs around $100,000 to produce and nets between $45,000 to $50,000. PLSO uses this money and our annual dues, which consistently hits around $81,000 each year, to run our Annual Operating Budget, which is the projected net income for the year between revenue and operating expenses. Some years we net high in the black, others have been narrowly in the red but we generally always aim to break even by spending what we make on outreach. As of January 31, PLSO has a total of 544 members. That breaks down as follows: • 342 Corporate Members • 92 Associates • 29 Special • 16 Retired • 15 Sustaining Members, making up six different companies • 27 Life Members • 23 Students And of course, we had our annual changing of the guard. I want to thank Jeremy Sherer for serving as our State Chairman and the others stepping off the Board. These are all incredible people and I appreciate them very much. We need more like them to help lead us into the future. From the PLSO Office How to Send Us Your Work Please email the editor Vanessa Salvia with submissions. vsalvia@gmail.com Your submission should be in .doc format. Please send images separately (not embedded in the document) and at the highest file size available (MB size range versus KB size range—larger sizes are encouraged). Please include the author’s name and email address or phone number for contact. continued
8 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 46, No. 1 2023 Annual Conference Sponsors All signage brought to you by: Annual Conference Your Place for Continuing Education and Professional Networking THANK YOU to the following companies for supporting our community.
10 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 46, No. 1 2023 Annual Conference Wrapping Up the 2023 Conference By Jered McGrath, PLSO Conference Committee Chair 2022 outgoing Board members receiving their plaques for their valuable service from now Past-Chairman Jeremy Sherer, standing at right. Left to right: Brent Knapp, Dane Meade, Ryan Erickson, Rhonda Dodge, Scott Freshwaters, Lance King, and Jered McGrath. What a great way to kickstart 2023! Overall, PLSO hosted more than 500 attendees, including speakers, vendors, students, and corporate members. No matter how you participated, the Conference Committee thanks you for choosing us to help with your continuing education. It is an important event to the PLSO community and we are happy to continue that tradition. If you attended this year in Salem, I’d like to think you felt a bit of a buzz in the air reminiscent of the way conferences used to be, together with a feeling of optimism for where we are going. It was great to get nearly 400 attendees onsite this year and still provide access to about 100 folks viewing the live stream. Last year, those numbers were pretty much evenly split as we waded through ever-changing effects of and requirements from Covid. I was glad to see so many familiar faces and friends in person, and for some faces this would be the first time since January 2020 at the last pre-Covid annual conference. I found it hard to make my way from one end of the hallway to the other without truly wanting to stop and catch up with so many peers. Some of these conversations just needed more time than the 30 minute break between classes. Now that the conference has concluded the in-person event, I can get busy catching up on work from the missed week and action items that came up during those great chats with my peers. Now is also the time to dive into the online activity and catch up on some of the recorded content from the sessions. Recorded sessions have been loaded into the Whova platform for everyone to watch, and
11 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org 2023 Annual Conference they will be available through April. An easy way to see which ones were recorded is to login to Whova and go to the Agenda. Up top, where it says Filter By Tracks, make sure to only have the Recorded box checked. We are working on the content and presentation slides and we hope to have all provided content linked on the Whova platform or in the documents area. This year’s conference provided a selection of speakers who were streaming live, and in-person only. If you were not able to see a presentation in Salem, be sure to check out recorded sessions, and also note that we were able to add some previous content from the 2022 conference for presenter Rick Ellis, who unfortunately could not attend this year. The in-person event allowed us to hold the traditional Vendor Social on Wednesday night and the Scholarship Auction Dinner on Thursday evening. We regrouped the Young Surveyors Network with an in-person gathering of people led by chair Brenton Griffin. Many of the student members participating in the conference discussed offers of future employment opportunities in the industry with attendees. If you are looking for summer help or future employees from the surveying school students, it’s best to reach out as fast as you can and check in with all programs across the state. The online community boards will remain open for discussion for three months, so please check in on the app and ask those burning boundary questions or post interesting articles and photos with fellow attendees. I hope to continue to catch up with PLSO members online that I could not get to in person. The conference committee will meet to discuss the changes and ideas we can implement for next year, and we are always looking for fresh content suggested by members. All of us on the Conference Committee thank you again for making this year’s conference a great and memorable experience, and we look forward to building upon this in the future. Agency director Jason Barbee chatting with a conference attendee at the OSBEELS booth. Topcon Solutions Store discusses their products with attendees during the seminar break. Dennis Mouland starts out the first day of the conference discussing the decisions involved with corner evidence found in the field. Speaker Jennie Bricker poses for a quick photo with Robert Boyer after her session on waterway boundaries.
12 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 46, No. 1 2023 Annual Conference Conference attendees hang out at a post-Education & Outreach Auction dinner meet up at Magoo’s Sports Bar across from the Salem Conference Center. Scott Morcom from WFG National Title Insurance Company speaking on a real estate, lending, and title perspective on property line adjustments and plats. Lobbyist Darrell Fuller discusses the 2023 Legislative Session and the bills he is watching on behalf of surveyors and small businesses over lunch. Frontier Precision was one of 15 vendors meeting with attendees at the conference.
13 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org 2023 Annual Conference S&F and DEA employees chatting after the Annual Membership Meeting Lunch. Auction Committee member Marcus Helm works on uploading the silent auction items into the online system while an Oregon Tech student volunteer looks over the BLM book he won in a drawing. Conference attendees walk through the vendor exhibits between seminars. Chuck Whitten shares his extensive experience in the field at his seminar, where he discussed elusive corner monuments and how the best-laid plans can lead to the most unexpected situations. Remote Sensing Surveyor Josh Kowalski leads a UAS session. 2023 Chairman of the Board Tim Fassbender thanks outgoing Chair Jeremy Sherer for his service the past year.
14 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 46, No. 1 2022 Award Winners Recognized By Dan Nelson, PLS. Awards Committee Chair 2023 Annual Conference Awards It’s that time of year when we get to recognize our peers for their extra effort, having gone above and beyond the normal call of duty when representing our profession and organization. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that PLSO is a member-driven organization, but without individuals like the people recognized this year, our association would not be successful. Each position, from Chairman of the Board to our Chapter Secretaries and Committee Members, is an integral part of the running of PLSO. Executive Secretary Aimee McAuliffe cannot do her job properly without the knowledge and valuable experience of the member volunteers. “The mission of PLSO is to unite all land surveyors in Oregon and its role is to support our state’s land surveying community and the public it serves,” McAuliffe says. “The fastest way to get to know your professional community is by being active. Out of the volunteers I regularly work with at PLSO, I can honestly say that all of them bring and receive value from their community. I know I am better for knowing them and appreciate everything they do. The three men honored this year are extremely deserving and I am so happy they have been recognized.” Thank you to everyone who submitted a nomination this year. For those wondering about the process, there is a form in the Members Only section of plso.org. After you log in, go to Members and then Membership Resources. We are happy to take nominations all year, but the deadline is in December, before the conference. You are welcome to contact Awards Committee Chairman Dan Nelson with questions as well. Please join us by thanking these winners for their time and sending congratulations for being honored this year! Remi Fritz receiving his Brush Cutter Award from Dan Nelson, the Awards Committee Chair. Gary Johnston receiving his Team Player Award from Dan Nelson. Jered McGrath receiving his Surveyor of the Year Award from Dan Nelson.
15 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org Brush Cutter Award Remi Fritz The Brush Cutter Award is for that person who just keeps going and going and going, never letting the stuff ahead of them stop their pursuance on obtaining the results for PLSO and the profession. Known for being willing and ready to take on any new project and see it through, while continuing as Blue Mountain Chapter secretary since 2019, Remi Fritz has helped with chapter workshops, even single handedly running themwhen needed. He is always in early working on www. plso.org/bluemountain, preparing minutes, or planning the next meeting. “Nobody utilizes the chapter web pages the way Remi does,” McAuliffe says. “It Team Player Award Gary Johnston 2023 Annual Conference Awards Gary Johnston is no ordinary TeamPlayer. He has served on the Board as Chapter President and State Chairman, as well as Chair of the Finance Committee and Auction Committee. Without question, he deserved every accolade when he was recognized as Surveyor of the Year and awarded Life Membership. However, despite retirement, Johnston continues to donate his time to his community through his church, his local food bank, and putting together the Education & Outreach Auction each year. For more than a decade, Johnston has been putting together the silent and oral auctions as things continue may seem like a simple thing, but it brings value to his chapter, and it’s all done by him. No other chapter holds workshops the way Blue Mountain does, either. It’s a dedicated group of people on the east side of our state and I really think Remi’s time and effort keeps it all running smoothly.” When asked about the importance of the chapters and the key to being a successful Chapter Secretary, Fritz responded, “I think this organization like any other is what we the people make it at chapter or state level. We are only to get back out what we put into it; but it all starts with each individual. When I got elected, to come in at a moment’s notice after the conference has started. He has guided the students who volunteer and has raised thousands of dollars for the scholarship and outreach funds. Last year, when Robert Hamman, Marcus Helm, and Cole Davis agreed to take over the committee, Johnston continued to serve on the Auction Committee to ensure a smooth transition for everyone. Hamman says, “I think he is more of the Captain of the Team Player for this award, but really needs to be recognized as he is trying tomove away from this position and still putting in the hours to teach us how it should be run. I have I went to the website and looked up my job responsibilities. I talked with several people who had done the secretary’s job, then got to work. It doesn’t really take that much extra effort. Most of the secretary’s job is done before work or at lunch time when I’m at my desk already. The biggest help I have doing the secretary’s job is from Lance [King], allowing me to use company resources when available and his commitment to the PLSO.” done events for 30 years myself, and Gary really knows what needs to be done for the PLSO and how to do it. I’ve known Gary a long time. He has never wavered from his duties to keep PLSO upright and has certainly demonstrated how cooperation and teamwork really do work wonders.” McAuliffe concludes, “Gary promised me he’d be there next year. He just might not have to work so hard. He’ll still get an extra drink ticket if he wants it though, just for being him.” continues
16 You have to be someone that cares a lot about the profession and our professional community to be nominated for Surveyor of the Year. When the nomination came in this year, it was clear to see that Jered McGrath’s list of accomplishments easily puts those requirements to shame. In my time on the Awards Committee, I’ve had the privilege of learning the accolades of many great surveyors in our profession. Jered clearly sits among the best of the best. Being involved in Pioneer Chapter leadership and serving on the State Board, promoting the profession through numerous classroom presentations, career fairs, and other outreach events, he has clearly demonstrated his ability to advance our profession. During his 20-year career, Jered has performed a wide variety of surveying services in Oregon, Washington, and California—each of the states in which he holds a surveying license. His ability to demonstrate a history of high competence, integrity, and professionalism is well-documented. There might not be one single person among us who is more responsible for us all being at the conference to see him receive his award, and the last 10 years for that matter. “Jered has been a solid partner in conference planning since I started,” McAuliffe says. “He’s reliable, smart, has created relationships with speakers and has graciously answered my crazy late night conference emails. On top of that, he always adds an even keel to meaty State Board meeting discussions. I’d say I need to keep buttering him up so he’ll serve as State Chairman soon, but it’s Surveyor of the Year Jered McGrath Member since 2006 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 46, No. 1 2023 Annual Conference Awards just in Jered’s DNA to serve. And it’s not every day that someone quickly quotes Teddy Roosevelt upon hearing he won.” When accepting the award, McGrath paraphrased Roosevelt by saying, “Every man owes part of his time and money to the business or industry to which he is engaged. No man has a moral right to withhold his support from an organization that is striving to improve conditions within his sphere.” McGrath ended his acceptance with “the grass is greener where you water it.” Surveyor of the Year is a special award meant to honor someone who has represented PLSO and our community well. Only written nominations endorsed by five members in good standing were considered for the board of directors to vote on the recipient. Minimum requirements include: • Be a Corporate Member of PLSO for five or more years. • Have a demonstrated history of high competence, integrity, and professionalism. • Assisted qualified and interested people in advancement within the profession. • Career-long service to the profession. Jered has done a lot for PLSO and the surveying profession over the years through volunteering, leadership, encouragement, support, and more. He has been on the Annual Conference Committee as Conference Chairman or Co-Chairman for eight years. He is involved in Pioneer Chapter through leadership and volunteering. He has helped with many student activities from career fairs to STEM, to other outreaches, all in the promotion of land surveying. As an alumnus of Oregon Institute of Technology, he also actively supports OIT Geomatics, all the while working full time as a professional surveyor and enjoying time with his family! • Member since 2006 • Conference Chair since 2014 (on the committee since 2013) • Pioneer Chapter Secretary-Treasurer 2012 • Pioneer Chapter Pres-elect 2019, 2021 • Pioneer Chapter Pres 2020, 2022 • Brushcutter Award 2019 Nomination Group: • Aimee McAuliffe, PLSO Executive Secretary • Gary Johnston, PLS, PLSO Life Member • John Thatcher, PLS, PLSO Life Member • Tim Kent, PLS • Pat Gaylord, PLS • Samantha Tanner, PLS • Brady McGarry, PLS • Tony Brooks, PLS continued
17 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org Professional Listings ADVERTISING RATES STARTING AT $330! Advertise in The Oregon Surveyor! The Oregon Surveyor is the official magazine for the Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon. It reaches every member of the association and offers a great opportunity to target surveyors with your marketing efforts. Renew your membership through July 1, 2023, at plso.org to keep receiving The Oregon Surveyor and other member benefits. The newmembership year has begun! plso.org
18 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 46, No. 1 2022 Surveyor of the Year The Surveyor of the Year award is the opportunity to recognize a member of the professional community that stood out among the crowd for their contribution to PLSO and the profession. Jered McGrath is a Senior Project Manager at S&F Land Services in Portland. He has a B.S. in land surveying and geomatics from Oregon Institute of Technology; is licensed in Oregon, Washington, and California; and has worked in each state during his 20-year career. His day-to-day work includes a variety of land surveying services that the private sector needs, including boundary and topo work, GPS control surveys, UAV and photogrammetry mapping, title surveys, complex boundary problems, legal descriptions, easements, and the division of property in a variety of jurisdictions. Jered is highly involved in the professional surveying community, such as volunteering time and efforts for educational outreach events and the Conference Committee. Many of these activities include classroom presentations to prospective surveying students and career counselors, as well as large career fairs catering to thousands of students in a short time frame. Over the past 15 years, Jered has participated in outreach events in the Portland Metro area such as the NW Career Youth Expo, Willamette Promise events, Engineers Week Career Fairs, Southwest Washington’s STEMWeek, and other outreach opportunities where possible. From these experiences, he hopes to discuss and provide some tips and tricks to help others provide outreach to prospective surveying students and future surveying technicians at outreach events around the state. Congratulations Jered for being Surveyor of the Year! Typically, I like to listen to the nomination being read aloud at the ceremony, and guess who is being talked about. As it was being read this year, I picked up on four or five words that sounded a lot like or exactly like my LinkedIn profile, and then it hit me what was going on. I am gratefully humbled by the award as I feel there are many in this organization who continually strive to better it and our profession. I enjoy giving back to PLSO when I can as I always feel one will truly get more out of volunteering than one puts into it. I know it can be difficult at times when trying to balance family activities, general household demands, and a work life balance. I really am lucky that my wife of 17 years, Kerri, has no issues with me going off to my society meetings and or having longwinded video conferencing sessions. Both Kerri and my daughter, Ashlyn, think I talk on the phone way too much, but I have no desire to slow down or change anytime soon. Onward and upward for the next year! Cheers! Jered with his wife, Kerri, and daughter, Ashlyn. OF THE YEAR 2022 Surveyor Jered McGrath
19 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org 2022 Surveyor of the Year 21 Questions with 2022 Surveyor of the Year Jered McGrath continues Where did you grow up? I grew up in rural Columbia County, about 12 miles southwest of Rainier, Oregon, where I graduated high school in 1997. I spent many of my days just out in the woods on our 80-acre Christmas tree farm. As I entered high school we moved a bit closer to town, but it was always a pretty rural setting. I think this isolation was great but it did create a small desire to check out and live in a big city someday. This desire is what pointed me south to Los Angeles after finishing my on- campus classes at Oregon Tech. Tell us a little bit about your time as an Oregon Tech student. Did you volunteer at the PLSO Conference? My time at Oregon Tech provided some of my greatest memories and wrote some chapters of my life that naturally had ups and downs. When I first started at OIT my main focus was being a track and field athlete, and the surveying program was a bonus to that. I stretched out my degree over five years to coincide with my eligibility to compete, which worked out when I had a medical redshirt year after separating a shoulder. I was lucky enough to qualify for and compete in the NAIA National Championships (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) for the other four years in pole vault. I personally did not attend a conference as a student while at OIT since we were generally starting to compete in the indoor track and field season. I will say surveying was love at first sight. I thought I wanted to be an electrical engineer but was soon convinced to switch majors before school started. There are many of my former classmates actively surveying throughout the state and it’s always a great time when we can reconnect. How long have you been a member of PLSO? I recall first learning about PLSO through the instructors at OIT after being in the program for a few years. In the early 2000s Dennis Findorff, Jack Walker, and/ or Mason Marker would encourage us to attend the local chapter meetings held in Klamath Falls. It was a sparse crowd then and as many chapters still face today, the attendance would bloomwith the scheduling of a presentation. When did you first get started in the profession? I took my first surveying job with the Winema National Forest in Klamath Falls in the summer of 1999. We had an exceptionally large group of students working that year mapping campgrounds, surveying and posting forest boundaries, and retracing all kinds of monuments. The next year I worked for Winema again in the summer and a portion of that was doing work for Crater Lake National Park. I don’t know if there has been another month of my surveying career that compares to working daily around the crater rim and in the park. What difference has PLSO made in your career? Undoubtedly, PLSO is the reason for many lifelong connections I have to other local surveyors. I have worked with many mentors through PLSO workshops, conference planning, outreach events, or local chapter meetings, and many of them are former Surveyors of the Year. I would attribute a lot of my continued support of the profession to seeing their previous leadership and dedication. To name a few would not be a complete list but Gary Johnston, Pat Gaylord, Greg Crites, Bob Neathamer, Gary Anderson, Joe and Jean Ferguson, Paul Galli, John Thatcher, Tony Brooks, Paul Landau, Lee Spurgeon, Mike Berry, Brian Portwood, and my close confidants of Shaun Fidler and Tim Kent all have helped me greatly along the path in learning what is needed to give back to our profession. What volunteer position would provide the most benefit for someone just starting out? I was the Pioneer Chapter secretary for a while and I feel that this position really helps one connect to local members within the chapter and other surveyors around the state. Jered assisting with tying some section corners. You have been the Conference Chair for 10 years and on the committee longer than that. What have you liked the most about your experience? I really enjoy the search process to try and find the next great presentation. I feel we have succeeded when we can bring in speakers that make people think and engage in the continuing education process. I feel every once in a while an individual, myself included, may see a presentation that makes you want to change the way you are doing things for the better. Maybe it’s boundary case law that you are newly aware of, or a presentation on a type of survey that provides you the confidence to seek out and take on that type of work. The last 10 years have exploded with technological advancements that many times need to be seen in a longer classroom setting than just a demo on a showroom floor. We are always looking at the presentation that can skip the sales pitch and push the technology, no matter the color of the units involved. I also take pride in comparing our conference to any other state conference track. I feel
20 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 46, No. 1 At Hallgrímskirkja, a church in Reykjavík, Iceland. we generally can provide more speaker options at each time slot and we are able to offer more PDHs than we ever could before with the ability to stream and record sessions. You have served on the Board of Directors twice. In your opinion, what makes a board most productive? Besides the two terms on the board, I have also had the pleasure of participating in many meetings as just a committee chair (non-voting). I highly recommend and encourage every surveyor to donate a portion of their time to being on the board or assisting with a committee. The best way to ensure productivity in a board meeting is to prepare a direct motion of an issue to discuss that will be placed on the agenda in advance. Prepare and provide information on pros and cons of the motion and ask yourself if this motion is in the best interest of PLSO across the state. If funding is needed, then be ready to know where the funds can come from or can be generated. If the motion is going to need a champion to take it forward, be ready to step into this role. Try and limit personal stories and respect everyone’s time and the agenda’s time. A board meeting can have scope creep just like any project we face in professional practice and focusing on the key points or action items that need to be addressed will help keep a meeting on track. continued 2022 Surveyor of the Year What is your proudest moment as a surveyor so far? I believe I have had many great stepping- stone moments along the journey thus far. Passing all of my exams on the first try and getting my first PLS before I was 30 were huge goals for me when I first started. Standing up in front of a crowded PLSO conference for the first time as chair was more nerve-racking than I would like to admit. This award is a highlight in that I’m proud to know that at least some of my peers feel I’m at a minimum trying to put forth the extra effort to make our profession a little bit better for others. And I’m always proud if I can use my education and experience to help someone else learn something or get through a complex problem. Explain the position you hold at S&F Land Services. I am a Senior Project Manager in our Portland office. I generally am coordinating projects from proposal to completion in a variety of sectors including transportation, land development, utility improvements, and commercial redevelopment. I have worked on projects from Seattle to Southern California and work with great in-house teams across our network of offices that can put together a variety of solutions to clients’ needs with a rather robust set of tools. I have known many of my co-workers for many years while at S&F or from previous companies in the area. The collection of employees here makes up a great group of like-minded individuals open to working hard but also enjoying each other’s company outside of the workplace. The fact that S&F is a survey-only company really keeps the goals of the company and the goals of the employees aligned. Does S&F have an intern program? Do you have specific things you teach while they are on the job? We have hired completely green personnel and trained in-house for a variety of positions but not necessarily in an official program one may call an internship. We have many adjunct professors as employees and try to seek out future employees who have invested in themselves a little bit. What has been the most interesting project you’ve worked on? Three-dimensional air space subdivisions in SouthernCalifornia. As a surveying technician freshout of college, thiswas a survey product I never knew existed. Our team was able to create 3-dimensional real- world CAD files and then plot and label them in a way that may be best shown as a condo-style plat here in Oregon, but entire air spaces could be sold prior to construction. It was just a unique survey product of Southern California. What professional project have you learned the most from? The one where mistakes and/or oversights were involved. We have to learn from our mistakes and move forward for growth to occur. Some mistakes can be caused by the actions of others but without clear documentation of the process, you may find yourself defending your own actions and/or settling mistakes collectively to move forward. What advice would you give to people just starting their career right now? An investment in yourself with formal education will always pay dividends for the rest of your career and assist in a quicker climb up the career ladder. Continued education will keep you in demand and open to a wider variety of projects requiring complex solutions. Be ready to seek out and learn from the large amounts of online content available. A good question is not “How much should I be paid?” but “How much I can bring to a company to increase my own billout rate?” Colosseum, Rome.
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