Did a little additional search on the same site. Interesting sequence of articles.
Tuesday, 21 February 2012 Katt nominated for state board of examiners for land surveyors
Tuesday, 03 July 2012 County debates payment of Katt bill
Tuesday, 17 July 2012 Commissioners debate survey bill
Tuesday, 31 July 2012 Surveyor’s $25K bill denied
< http://www.auroranewsregister.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4992:surveyors-25500-bill-denied-on-3-2-county-board-vote&catid=13:featured-articles
This surveyor is personal friend of mine and a top-notch surveyor. There are a lot of problems in Nebraska when elected county surveyors do necessary work for the County, but then the County commissioners balk after they see the price. I believe this particular county has one of its boundaries shared with another county along the river and there has been a lot of disputes. I am sure the county attorney and other elected officials spending time and money on this situation are not being questioned. He has told me how he has tried to educate the commissioners about surveying, but you always have those who refuse to listen or understand.
Simple solution is to estimate the fee and get approval in advance. That is how most of us do business. It's not as if this was an emergency.
When I saw the subject line I wondered if someone talked Daryl Moistner into letting them help on one of his surveys. 😉
:good:
One of the other main problems going on there is the fact they have a GIS department and three of the commissioners think they can get anything they need within 30 seconds. Any number the GIS computer tech gives them is supposedly exact, so this surveyor out there digging holes in the ground and chopping line along the river bank is viewed as just wasting the taxpayers money.
I would think that the state attorney would have a different opinion than that of a fixed county commissioner court.
That has been the result here.
😉
Something is rotten in Denmark
It is difficult to imagine the commissioners not realizing what was going on and the level of work involved. Our commission meets every week. The county surveyor should have been providing weekly updates and submitted invoices at least once per month. That $25,500 did not build up in a week or two. There must be much more to the internal politics involved.
Maybe I didn't read far enough, but I didn't see any details about how much work he did. Did he perform enough work to warrant the fee?