January February 2018

Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org 25 WFPS PREFACE If you missed the discussions concerning PLSO’s participation in the Western Federation of Professional Surveyors (WFPS) at the January 2018 PLSO Board of Directors meeting or the PLSO Annual Meeting, this article will bring you up-to-date on the information presented at those gatherings. If you attend- ed either of said meetings, this article will be a reminder of the testimony presented by current and former WFPS Directors Ben Peterson, Greg Crites, Carla Meritt and John Thatcher, the Chair of the NSPS Western Director’s Council Amanda Allred and the NSPS Executive Director Curt Sumner. Disclosure: all the above-named persons feel very strongly that participation in WFPS provides benefits to PLSO, the other 12 Western mem- ber associations, and indeed, NSPS. The first thing to know is that WFPS is self-supporting, so there are no dues. Economic impact to the member societies is limited to the Directors’ trav- el expenses, which, historically, have only amounted to about $1,700 per year. Under the present PLSO corporate mem- bership of 378, that amounts to roughly $4.50 per member for a voice on a regional council of land surveyors represent- ing the 13 western states, an amazing bargain based on the benefits noted below! The Board wisely tabled an up or down vote on withdrawing from WFPS, originally scheduled for our just completed 2018 Conference in January until at least the next board meeting, to allow time for board members to bring this important issue back to the chapters and for PLSO members statewide to be brought up to speed. It is the intent of this article to inform readers of the history of WFPS, the benefits of membership in WFPS, both to PLSO and our partner western state societ- ies and finally, the issues raised over the last few months and their proposed resolution. HISTORY WFPLS was conceived in 1979 in Lake Tahoe and incorporated in January 1980 in Reno. Before that, in the 1970’s, survey- ors were one of four groups making up ACSM (the American Congress of Surveying and Mapping), and although survey- ors made up about ninety percent of the ACSM membership, each of the four groups had equal representation. NSPS was ultimately formed to address that imbalance in representa- tion. In 1987 the name was changed to WFPS, and in 1991 Hawaii joined, bringing the count to thirteen member states, where it stands today. WFPS sprang from a response to fiscal irresponsibility on the part of the ACSM Board of Directors and their lack of concern for issues that were pertinent to the western states. Participation in WFPS and NSPS is covered in Article 13, Section 3 of the PLSO bylaws. Section 3 (A) calls for two representatives to be appointed by the board chair, the second representa- tive (or “Director”) being the NSPS representative. Section 3 (C) describes how communication between PLSO and WFPS is to be handled by the WFPS Director. Although the bylaws only require reports to be made to the PLSO board, the WFPS Director has historically (and will continue going forward) kept the PLSO members at large informed of WFPS doings through articles published in The Oregon Surveyor. Members want- ing more information can always visit the WFPS website at wfps.org. If you click on “About WFPS” on the top ribbon, you can open a short PowerPoint that will fill in a lot of blanks about the organization not covered here. Be sure to read their mission statement. BENEFITS There is a long list of WFPS’s accomplishments over the years that are described in the PowerPoint presentation noted above. They include, but are not limited to, supporting NSPS on several national issues and on its reorganization, providing presenters for conferences, reviewing NCEES test questions, along with handling teacher recruiting and NCEES match- ing funds for the TwiST (Teaching with Spatial Technology) Program. Aside from those important activities, let’s dive headlong into the 21st century and see some of the things WFPS is currently up to. • Co-hosting the Western Regional Survey Conference in February with Nevada, Utah and Arizona; • Forming a committee to write an MOU with NSPS for a Western States Disaster Relief Fund; • Creating the Mike Mickiewicz/Paul Reid Memorial Scholarship (for those who are unaware, both Mike and Paul were long time members of the WFPS BOD and significant voices for championing professional land surveyors); • Discussing administering the CFED Program in the western states with NSPS; • Developing a webinar program in which proceeds are shared with the states in proportion to the number of people from each state who use the program. In addition to specific programs developed and actions taken by organizations such as WFPS in behalf of their members, there are also benefits arising from group association that don’t lend themselves to quantification. We consider WFPS a brain trust of some of the most knowledgeable and expe- rienced surveyors the West has to offer. Most are current or past leaders in their state societies. We get together to open- ly share and exchange ideas, issues and activities common to surveying in the West. There is much to be learned from the experience of others. We help each other to become better surveyors and leaders, to increase public awareness of our profession and to stave off the assaults on our industry from non-surveyors. Think of WFPS as the proverbial canary in the coal mine. A trend, good or bad, taking root in one state, can WFPS: Benefiting PLSO Since 1979 Continues on page 26 T