About two years ago our State Board was faced with a dilemma.?ÿ There was an aging (approaching mid-80s)?ÿgentleman surveyor that was racking up complaints by the bucketful.?ÿ His plats were hand drawn in pencil and, in my opinion, done poorly.?ÿ The?ÿone I reviewed looked as if?ÿit was?ÿstraight out of the thirties.?ÿ There was one bearing, to the nearest minute on a section line.?ÿ The intersecting quarter line was labeled "North".?ÿ Curves with no data were common and with just a cursory glance at the lot lines that were dimensioned it was apparent the R/W had to be of some varied width.?ÿ I saw no scale, but it was probably close to 1"=100'.?ÿ The lettering looked like...well...an 80 year old man's.
The County Clerk and County Commissioners fought with him constantly over the issues.?ÿ The banker and title company in town loved him and he was a pillar of the community and stellar gentleman.?ÿ?ÿHis talents as a surveyor (if he ever had any) had seriously waned.
It was difficult to review the work with an objective view but I tried.?ÿ Even though the plat miserably failed our minimum standards?ÿI found myself grappling for some edifying portion of his work.?ÿ My biggest question was if there were corners set within the prepared plat.?ÿ This is where he met his Waterloo.?ÿ There were at least a few pins that had been set, but most of their positions?ÿcontradicted drastically with the recorded plat.?ÿ
A 'younger' surveyor in the area had been frustrated for years in attempting to follow his work.?ÿ It was impossible to complain about him locally as he was so well liked.?ÿ And the simple fact that a 'younger' surveyor in direct competition?ÿlodging a formal complaint only cast poor light on the complainant.?ÿ This younger surveyor attempted to obtain the old fella's calcs (he originally had asked if he had anything digital like a CAD file) so he could make some sort of rhyme or reason out of the plat.?ÿ The old surveyor's arrogant rebuffs is what?ÿfinally brought the younger surveyor to the point he contacted the?ÿBoard.
To make matters worse the old guy was in good with a powerful State Senator that was more than happy to?ÿdrop hand-signed letters all over the place?ÿvouching for the quality of the old surveyor's moral fiber.?ÿ I think there was even a letter from the?ÿlong standing local preacher at the Antioch Baptist Church in town.
It took two years, but the Board was finally able to get this guy to abandon his license.?ÿ His defenders attempted to make the whole thing about him "not using a computer".?ÿ It was not about that at all.?ÿ In some serious discussions with those at the Board that eventually sealed his fate, I was the devil's advocate in making sure that a man wasn't being prosecuted for not maintaining digital files or preparing surveys without CAD.
If his surveys had met our minimum standard it shouldn't have mattered how he prepared the plat, or even what equipment he used to perform the field work.?ÿ As long as what was done in the field was reflected?ÿon the plat and met the minimum standards he should have been able to maintain his license.?ÿ But his work was poor and erroneous, and that was the nails in his coffin.?ÿ
I found out later the gentleman actually owned and used an older total station.?ÿ So it wasn't like he was being crucified for still performing "tape and transit" surveying (which was how he had wished it would appear).?ÿ He got canned for being sloppy and careless.
The banker and title company in town loved him and he was a pillar of the community and stellar gentleman...
... His defenders attempted to make the whole thing about him "not using a computer".?ÿ?ÿ
Had a similar situation here with a fairly young surveyor, except the bankers and lawyer where honest about their defense of the gentleman: "The state?ÿis picking on him because he's the cheapest"
Steve
